The Friends of Medicare special Alberta Health Act edition of The Guardian, a newsletter sent to Friends of Medicare members across Alberta.

1. A Publication of the
Friends of Medicare
Strengthening and Expanding Public Healthcare
The coming Alberta Health Act
Repealing Alberta’s
Public Medicare laws?
Alberta Health Act - Why now?
Possible major threat to public health care
this T he province’s new Alberta Health came up with the plan in their report last Friends of Medicare has been pushing for
INSIDE
Act initiative is ringing alarm bells fall. Now Fred Horne has been put in full, public discussion and is hosting pub-
for many health care experts around the charge of the public relations process and lic meetings around the province to in-
issue: province. Firstly, it’s unclear exactly why
the government needs to do this... and
“consultation” on the Health Act. form Albertans about the issues of a new
Health Act.
secondly, it has the potential to repeal Al- Carefully controlled
“Consultation on berta’s core health laws that underpin our
“consultation” Find out more
Alberta Health Act”. . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 2 public health care system.
Sailing around One of Fred Horne’s conclusions was is special issue of e Guardian is ex-
Seniors issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 3 e Alberta Health Act plan seems to that Albertans should be consulted about panded to provide extra information about
Parkland report changes, but the process announced for
be a carefully staged opportunity for the the Alberta Health Act. We urge you to
on Health Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 4 & 5 the Health Act is tightly controlled. e
government to so -sell health care chang- consider it carefully, and get involved. e
History of health care web questionnaire is carefully framed and
es, with a “consultation” process to gently stakes of new health care legislation are
privatization in Alberta . . . . . . .Page 4 & 5 persuade Albertans this is important forNO promoted fully-public meetings have high. While we don’t know exactly what
Government backs away our health system. been announced. Instead Horne depu- the new Act will contain or its conse-
from seniors’ pharmacy plan . . . . . . Page 6 tized the newly appointed Health Ad- quences yet, we do know this government
Friends of Medicare activities Edmonton MLA Fred Horne and the visory Councils around the province to has a long history of attempting to disman-
across province . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 7 Minister’s Advisory Committee on Health host “invitation-only” meetings. tle and reduce public health care.

2. “Consolidation”
or “Repeal”
Health Act to replace
existing Alberta
Medicare laws
T he recent Minister’s Advisory
Committee on Health uses the
word consolidate when it talks about A lbertans should de nitely have their
say in the government’s “consulta-
e meetings are put on by Health Act
front man Edmonton MLA Fred Horne,
important check and balance when regu-
lations and policies are being developed.”
what will happen with Alberta’s cur- tion” on the new Health Act – if they but are hosted locally by the Health Ad-
rent laws: “Consolidation of core health can. ere are two main avenues to par- visory Councils. ese Councils were ap- e problem is that the regulations, which
acts that deal with publicly funded ser- ticipate, the government’s very carefully pointed by the government last year a er can be done secretly by cabinet, with NO
vices. is legislation includes: structured on-line questionnaire, and they abolished the former Community public discussion, will be where the sub-
meetings held in communities around Health Councils. e government web- stantive restrictions and content of Alber-
• Alberta Health Care Insurance Act the province. But the meetings are NOT site says: “ e local will invite a diverse ta’s health laws will reside.
• Hospitals Act being well publicized and were rst an- cross-section of the community to attend
• Nursing Homes Act nounced as invitation-only events, but the workshops, including youth, seniors, For example, the Alberta Health Insur-
• Health Care Protection Act a er Friends of Medicare put on pressure, Albertans with disabilities, and local ance Act one of the laws the government
• Health Insurance Premium Act” they said “Spaces have also been reserved health care providers, for example.” says it will roll into the new Health Act,
at each venue for members of the public.” clearly lays out that doctors can not work
e point is these laws which currently In other words, the government’s hand- both in the public system and at the same
underpin our public health care sys- e government’s meetings go on picked Advisory Councils will choose the time for private fees. If they can work both
tem will be GONE under the Alberta until July, 2010. Find out about the people to consult on the Health Act. sided, they could bill the public system for
Health Act. at could remove the le- meetings and how to “apply” at: some services and charge the patient for
gal basis that prevents the development www.albertahealthact.ca After the consultations: others, which would immediately open
of a parallel, for-pro t health care sys- the door for two tier, commercial health
tem with private insurance. A parallel e website also has a guide to lling in the Act itself care. Legislation restricting this is in the
system could lure away the best doctors, the on-line survey. e government is talking about the Al- LAW not the regulations now.
but be accessible only to those who can berta Health Act being “enabling” legisla-
pay extra for private insurance. tion that sets out principles “to provide an
Learn more:
If the Alberta Health Act TRULY
consolidates the former laws, those pro-
tections would remain. But only very
detailed examination of the nal word-
ing of a new Act will be able to tell if
www.AlbertaHealthAct.ca
those protections are still in place.
Friends of Medicare’s special website on the proposed Health Act.
Find out • Changes the new Alberta Health Act could make to medicare Also, even more information is available on
the Friends of Medicare’s usual website:
more about: • How to join the public discussion about the Act
www.FriendsofMedicare.org
• Analysis and tips on the government’s website “consultation”
• Events and activities about the Act

3. By Noel Somerville
H aving sailed quite a bit, I have found
it painful to watch the Alberta gov-
ernment beat upwind in its e orts to use
mier Ed Stelmach promised in the last
provincial election campaign. In fact, the
chairman of Alberta Health Services re-
government agrees to deregulate these
rates and allows them to be set by the
businesses that will build and operate the
privatized delivery to o -load much of its cently admitted that 70 long-term and facilities, we will doubtless see some new
health-care costs onto those who need the palliative care beds had actually been LTC spaces costing $3,000 a month plus
care -- particularly seniors. closed. ere has been no e ort to rescind care, nursing and medication costs for the
the freeze in the number of long-term few people who can a ord that.
We have been watching this tacking back care (LTC) beds announced by Liepert in 50 years. We know that the percentage
and forth since Ralph Klein became Pre- December 2008. More than half of the $105 million de- of Albertans over 65 will double in the
mier, with frequent changes of skippers. voted to funding these new and upgraded next 20 years. We know that, discount-
Recently, former health minister Ron spaces was raised through the Capital ing in ation and population growth, this
Liepert seemed to be making headway It would be a mistake, however, Bonds issued by the government last year. will increase Alberta’s health-care costs
but, in the troubled waters of public op- Why, one might ask, is the government by about 30 per cent. We also know that
position, he sailed too close to the wind. to assume this signifies a raising money from Albertans to give to increasing health spending by only 1.32
Gene Zwozdesky was brought on-board private, for-pro t corporations? per cent a year for the next 20 years can
and set about reversing some of his prede- real change in heading. accommodate this cost increase.
cessor’s decisions. Extendicare, a private operator that got
more than $10 million from the Alberta e Alberta economy is entirely capa-
It would be a mistake, however, to assume Clearly, the government still believes government last year, recently announced ble of managing such increases. Yes, we
this signi es a real change in heading. e LTC facilities (where patients pay only rst-quarter pro ts of $15.6 million, up might have to revert to progressive in-
government is still committed to priva- for accommodation and meals, and where from $3.7 million a year ago. Does anyone come tax rates and deprive the wealthiest
tizing as much health care as possible to nursing, medications, rehab and other think this is a prudent way to spend pub- Albertans of the huge tax break they have
achieve its minimalist, ideological vision services are provided free) are too expen- lic dollars? Surely the folly of privatized enjoyed since 2001. We might even have
of what government should be. sive a way to care for old people who are delivery of health and care services, where to rethink our ridiculously low business
cognitively impaired, chronically ill, or so the secrecy of business arrangements pre- taxes. But that is in nitely preferable to
We are still waiting for the 600 new long- frail they need extensive nursing care. vents oversight and accountability, is be- messing about with quick- x privatized
term care (nursing home) beds that Pre- coming apparent. solutions that might reduce the strain on
e government clearly intends to put public accounts but will ultimately cost
such patients into privatized Assisted Liv- e bankruptcy proceedings underway Alberta seniors, their families and baby
ing facilities where, in addition to accom- for the Club Sierra and Masterpiece se- boomers in nitely more.
modation and meal costs, patients pay niors’ care facilities in Red Deer, and Net-
per-service charges to be toileted, bathed, worc Health’s HRG surgical facility in Surely it is time the government set a new
dressed, wheeled about and fed. ey will Calgary are examples of the government, course toward health services that are not
pay both for their medications and for and Alberta taxpayers, being le holding just publicly nanced but also publicly de-
having them dished out. the bag when private facilities fail. livered -- services that do not deprive ail-
ing Alberta seniors, when they most need
While the government recently an- Rather than palming o its responsibilities it, of the medically necessary services they
nounced a $105-million program to build onto private operators, the government supported with their taxes all their work-
1,000 new and upgraded continuing-care needs to face up to its obligation to fund ing lives.
Friends of Medicare raises awareness and educates spaces, it is unwilling to say how many, and deliver medically necessary care ser-
Albertans about the bene ts of public health care.
if any, will be LTC. at, presumably, is vices to a growing population of seniors. Noel Somerville is the chairperson of the
Friends of Medicare is a coalition of individuals, social awaiting the government’s decision on seniors task force of Public Interest Alberta.
justice groups, unions, churches and other organizations
dedicated to the strengthening and support of public health
the nal report of the committee looking is growth is not a “tsunami” or an un-
care in the pro ince of Alberta. at ways of li ing the ceiling on accom- foreseen event; it is a population bulge
modation costs for LTC facilities. If the that we have known about for more than

4. Undoing Medicare:
Report 1
Risks of the Alberta Health Act
constant theme in Alberta politics is is a summary of a report by Parkland Institute
Research Director Diana Gibson and Vancouver-
F rom the beginning there was strong commercial resistance to Alberta’s, and
Canada’s, public health care system. Insurance corporations and other busi-
nesses have constantly tried to break in and break it up. In Alberta, there is a long
based health care researcher Colleen Fuller. A full
copy of the report is available on the Parkland Insti-
tute website at www.ualberta.ca/parkland
history of attempts to commercialize health care, and of strong public support for
Medicare that has held back privatization.
Premier Manning fights Health minister seeks
A lberta’s government has undertaken
to reform the existing health legisla-
tion and create a new Alberta Health Act.
For-profit delivery
does not deliver
1967 1986
against Medicare to end extra-billing e initiative is summarized in “A Foun- e research on for-pro t hospitals
dation for Alberta’s Health System” (sub- reveals three main areas where they
Alberta’s Premier, Ernest Manning led a na- Alberta Health Minister David Russell, sequently referred to as the Foundation). fall short:
tional campaign against compulsory public (who had earlier claimed Alberta would i. uality and safety of health services.
insurance for physician fees, ghting the accept cuts in federal medicare funding e rhetoric in the Foundation document
idea every step of the way, along with the rather than stop extra-billing by doctors) heavily emphasizes individual responsibili- ii. Costs of health services.
Canadian Health Insurance Association (a gives in and negotiates an agreement ty and exibility of delivery systems. It rep-
partnership of commercial insurance carri- with the Alberta Medical Association licates rhetoric seen in Ralph Klein’s ird iii. uality of jobs.
ers and non-pro t insurance controlled by to end extra-billing. Withheld federal Way and the 2001 Mazankowski report.
doctors), the Chamber of Commerce and health funding and public outcry against Findings include higher death rates
the Canadian Medical Association. extra-billing force the change. In this report we identify the potential in private hospitals and dialysis clin-
risks associated with such an act. e re- ics, more quality de ciencies and less
1982 Surveys reveal extent of 1991 22 Alberta Tory MPs back port is based on reviews of materials avail- nursing care in nursing homes and less
extra-billing in Alberta. user fees for health care able on the new health act initiative with care to the dying in hospices. Investor-
input from a national working group and owned hospitals spend much less on
Consumers’ Association of Canada tele- Alberta Tories back user fees in a letter a research symposium. nursing care than not-for-pro t hospi-
phone survey nds extra-billing by doc- to Prime Minister Mulroney. Two of the tals, and their administrative costs are
tors is a problem for many families. More MPs went on to careers in the insurance 1. risk of expanded for-profit delivery 6% higher. Privatization takes money
than one-quarter of the households re- industry, Don Mazankowski with Great from the pockets of under-paid, mostly
ported they had been extra-billed and West Life and Ken Hughes, now chair e government’s main focus with female health workers and gives it to
were reluctant to visit physicians because of Alberta Health Services, who ran his this initiative is to “reorganize and re- investors and highly paid managers.
of the practice. own insurance agency. vamp the delivery system.” e Alberta
Health Services states it as, “Recognize 2. risks of merging the acts
1984 The Canada 1994-95 Klein’s massive health cuts role of private and non-governmental
Health Act organizations in service delivery within One of the key priorities identi ed for
Alberta Health budget goes from $4.3 the Canada Health framework.” e the new Alberta Health Act is to make
e Canada Health Act for federal fund- billion in 1993 to $3.7 billion in 1995. submission by the Calgary Chamber de nitions standard across health care
ing of universal, comprehensive necessary Over 5,000 nurses laid o . ree Cal- of Commerce takes it one step further, legislation in Alberta by merging a num-
hospital and doctor services is passed gary hospitals sold or demolished. stating that “Surgical facility operators ber of the acts and standardizing de ni-
unanimously in Parliament supported by have commented that the system would tions. is includes the Nursing Homes
the governing Liberals, Brian Mulroney’s 1998 Bill 37 The Health function at much higher level of e - Act and the Hospitals Act. Protections in
Conservatives and the NDP. Statutes Amendment Act ciency if AHS were stripped of its regu- the Nursing Home Act include ratios for
latory function.” It also states that the nursing sta , as well as a variety of other
e Act would have given the Health Chamber has long advocated the repeal regulations protecting quality or care.
Minister the authority to allow private of the Health Care Protection Act.
hospitals. Also had a buried clause remov- Standardization may lead to the lowest
ing ban on private insurance coverage for common denominator. It also may be
auxiliary hospital services. Huge pressure used to get rid of wording that limits
causes government to withdraw the Bill.

5. MLA Fred Horne
chairs the committee
holding hearings on
the Act
Undoing Medicare: constant theme in Alberta politics
for-pro t involvement, protects the ii. responsibilities - e act as proposed
public sector, or dictates higher quality places strong emphasis on personal
standards such as nursing ratios. responsibility. e online survey in-
cludes a section on patient responsibil-
e repeated commitments that the ities such as: learn how to better access
new Alberta Health Care Act will com- health services; use services appropri- 2000 Bill 11 Health Care 2008 New Premier Ed Stelmach
ply with the Canada Health Act are ately and wisely; and make healthy Protection Act assures Albertans
hardly reassuring. Alberta’s legislation choices. is shi s responsibility from “Third Way is DOA”
already exceeds the CHA in impor- health care providers and the govern- Gives government the power to regulate
tant areas. ese include limits on the ment to individuals, and is a signi - private “non-hospital surgical facilities” But government announces “action plan
evolution of a parallel private system cant move away from universality. and allows public health care to purchase too make public health system more e -
through bans on doctors working in services from private hospitals. A er ma- cient”... “our new direction will build on
both systems. ere is no indication Emphasizing patient responsibility for jor public rallies and nightly vigils at the the Mazankowski report in 2001” and
that these protections will not be lost. health can lead to system biases against Legislature, nal version of the law tight- other reports including the 2006 ird
people with unhealthy habits such as ly restricts private hospitals. Bill 11 actu- Way plan.
3. risks of the patient charter smoking, poor diet or lack of exercise. ally discourages the expansion of more
Personal responsibility is important, private facilities.
A number of other jurisdictions have but these issues should be dealt with
experimented with the patient bill of through public education and interven- 2002 Mazankowski’s
rights. ese are very controversial. e tion programs and policy initiatives. “Framework for Reform”
online survey being conducted by the
Advisory Committee contains a num- 3. conclusions and recommendations Report to Alberta government proposes
ber of elements in the patient charter to reduce services covered by medicare
that raise concerns. Considerable resources are required to and greater reliance on private business
i. rights to timeliness and access create a new Alberta Health Act and health services and private insurance,
- ere is debate as to whether or not important risks are associated with that and calls Medicare “an unregulated mo-
time guarantees should be included scale of legislative change. is report nopoly”. Because of strong public oppo-
in a patient’s charter. Some legal and nds that there is nothing to be gained sition, nothing is publicly enacted by the 2009 Minister’s Advisory Committee
policy experts argue it could be used with the new legislation as proposed to government based on the report. calls for new Health Act
to improve accountability and out- date that could not be done under the
comes on wait times. Others suggest current legislation and much that could 2005 Government announces Act will replace existing Medicare Leg-
that it could be used as a vehicle for be lost. e initiative should not pro- “The Third Way” islation, and besides de ning principles,
opening the door to more privatiza- ceed as proposed. will look at: “publicly funded services
tion in a Chaoulli-style lawsuit. e Premier Klein says “take the shackles currently are de ned through various
risk of this would depend very much e legislation should only be changed o the health authorities, open up the terms, including insured services which
on how those rights were articulat- if the real objective is to strengthen the system and see what works and what has di erent meanings in di erent stat-
ed. For example, uebec’s charter public health system and better inte- doesn’t.” Government document shows utes, medically necessary services, basic
includes timeliness and access pro- grate the community sector within it, planned amendments to Alberta Health services, basic care services, basic health
visions, but those are limited spe- and to put a limit on any further for- Care Insurance Act and Hospitals Act to services, hospitalization bene ts and in-
ci cally to the public system and by pro t delivery. is is the topic of the open market to private insurance and to sured surgical services.”
caveats related to the limits imposed forthcoming second report in this series. private health delivery.
on the public system.

6. Seniors Pharmaceutical Strategy NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET
By David Eggen
O n Tuesday, March 30th Friends of
Medicare met with the provincial
health minister to discuss issues concern-
Like us, the government must have been
getting a similar message of anger and
frustration on this issue, and they were
and phoned the government to tell them
to “cease and desist” with their plans to
dismantle and privatize our public health
ing Albertans’ health. Our number one in no mood to defend yet another poorly system. ey did not cease and desist yet,
concern at that time was to compel the conceived and unpopular health care pol- but we did jolt them su ciently to compel
government to scrap the controversial and icy. On Wednesday, March 30th, the very them to remove and replace the health min-
regressive plan to charge senior’s monthly next day a er our meeting, the govern- ister and to pay back some of the billions of
premiums as well as co-payments for their ment announced that they would “post- dollars in outstanding debt that had piled
prescription drug needs. pone” their senior’s drug insurance plan up from years of government neglect.
until further notice.
We told the minister in no uncertain Senior’s do not appreciate being targeted,
terms that we were launching an aggres- is is welcome news, and it speaks to the due to their age, with an extra tax on their
sive campaign to “can the plan” and to power of the population when they speak health care. ey planned and saved for
come up with a overall senior’s health up against bad policy from the provincial their retirement and then the government
strategy that did not discriminate accord- government. In the previous year more changes the rules, with middle income se-
ing to age and income, and that did not than 30 000 Albertans signed petitions, niors being targeted to make some small
unfairly target seniors with extra fees. attended meetings and rallies, and wrote saving to the government’s general rev-
enues. Many senior were suspicious that
the change would not save any money
anyway, since the plan would require bu-
reaucrats and audits to determine how
much money senior’s had, and how much
more they should pay for their drugs.
Once the government set levels of income
for payment, what would stop them from
changing the categories to force people to
pay even more?
Many seniors know the Senior’s phar-
maceutical strategy was nothing more
Government powerpoint unveils motive for changing laws than an expensive insurance scheme that
would develop a market to expanded pri-
vate insurance. Once the government
I n 2005, when the Alberta govern-
ment was prepping for the ird
Way, one of the discussion papers was
A federal study discusses parallel pri-
vate health care in Canada and refer-
ences the Alberta presentation. Part of
parallel private system for health care in
these three countries…. Duplicate pri-
vate health care insurance has brought
cracked the concept of universal coverage,
what would stop them from applying this
to other areas?
a powerpoint which is still on the gov- Economics researcher Odette Madore’s two substantial bene ts: a wider choice
ernment’s website (www.health.alberta. conclusion is: “Duplicate private in- of providers and faster access to care So the senior’s pharmaceutical strategy is
ca/documents/Removing-Barriers- surance is currently permitted in Aus- for those who can a ord private insur- postponed, for now, but the structure is so
PPT-2005.pdf) tralia, New Zealand and the United ance; and additional funding for capac- deeply awed it must be cancelled and re-
Kingdom. Such insurance, combined ity development in the hospital sector. placed. e time has come for a universal
e report couldn’t be more clear – the with doctors’ ability to engage in dual At the same time, however, it has raised prescription drug plan for all Albertans
Alberta Health Insurance Act and Hos- practice (that is, to work in the publicly concerns about inequity of access and that is a ordable to all. Senior’s deserve a
pitals Act must be amended or repealed funded system while at the same time length of waiting times.” plan that includes prescription drugs, but
to make way for private insurance for practising in the private sector), has en- as part of an overall health strategy that
medical services in the province. couraged the development of a viable focuses on preventative health and qual-
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/prb0571-e.pd ity of life.

7. AHS stands for Amateur, Hidden, and Secretive
A ll the corporate management buzz
words in the world could not give
full justice to the chaos, turmoil, and low-
were running around the province. Al-
most overnight AHS had moved from re-
cruiting nurses worldwide because of the
morale that was directly caused by the re- shortage, to the opposite opinion, that
disorganization of Alberta’s health care Alberta had too many nurses. Frontline
system two years ago. e forced merger sta – trying to keep up with extra beds
of the nine regional health authorities doubled up in rooms and lining corri-
may have been based in the management- dors – were well aware of the reality that
speak of “synergizing” governance and Alberta’s health care system had not yet
“incentivizing” good intentions, but the recovered from the massive layo s of the
result has been a disaster. 1990s.
e creation of the Alberta Health Ser- In April a survey of AHS employees and
vices superboard has led to the removal of volunteers showed only 18 percent of phy-
local leadership in the health care system. sicians and 41 percent of nurses, techni-
is resulted in a secretive board of direc- cians and other employees are proud to
tors running the show, many of whom work for AHS. Only 29 percent of em-
have little connection to front-line health ployees and 19 percent of physicians said
workers or communities. e AHS board they were optimistic about the future of
is dominated by political appointees with AHS. ese survey results highlight the
strong connections to private health care poor morale levels and low trust in the se-
providers and the private insurance in- nior leadership of AHS.
dustry. eir lack of health care experi-
ence may have contributed to a long series e uncertain future of Alberta Hospital
of missteps and misinformation. Edmonton has caused great concern for
sta and families of patients. Changes
Friends of Medicare held it's pro incial Annual General Meeting in Edmonton recently. Economic mis-management has to be one to ‘assisted living’ and reduced care in
Members travelled om across the pro ince to join in the discussion of issues and campaigns.
of the big blunders. In 2007-2008, the the province’s Long-Term Care facilities
year before the twelve health authorities have made many Albertans question why
“Publicly-funded” services are NOT were merged, the authorities had a com-
bined de cit of $97 million. In 2008-09,
they can not get care provided in their
own communities. e confusion caused
the same as full public health care the year health authorities were amalgam-
ated, the de cit more than tripled to $343
around cataract surgery contracts and
their centralization in a few facilities or
P remier Stelmach and recent health
ministers make a careful point of
talking about “publicly-funded health
livery: “ e Alberta Health Act should ad-
dress the much broader range of health ser-
vices within the province, both those that
million. And in just one more year, Al-
berta Health Services managed to again
more than triple that de cit, to over $1
the closure of helicopter ambulance land-
ing pads raises questions about whether
the members of the AHS superboard even
services”. But many concerned citizens receive public funding and others within billion. AHS went on, in a most unusal consider smaller cities and rural commu-
point out that “publicly-funded” and full the overall continuum of services that en- move, to borrow $220 million from the nities in their decisions.
“public health care” are NOT necessar- able healthy people and communities.” Royal Bank.
ily the same. “Publicly-funded” could be e number of stories of poor decisions
contracted out to medical corporations, Albertans know they depend on public AHS CEO Stephen Duckett took it upon and chaos in AHS is too long to list in
something the government is doing al- Medicare for ALL necessary medical ser- himself to pick a high school style ght one article. e reality is that two years
ready with the costly HRC surgical con- vices. at is the full security of a public with the Nurses. In November 2009, a er the forced merger and creation of the
tracts in Calgary. health care system. Albertans don’t want Duckett told nurses that “the future of AHS superboard, our health care system
a system with private insurance where this nursing is not in nursing’s hands.” At is arguably less e cient due to the ama-
e Minister’s Advisory Committee on is covered, this is not, or with this limit, the time Duckett made this statement, teur, hidden, and secretive leadership of
Health suggests publicly-funded health or that limit. Albertans want full public rumours of layo s and facility closures the AHS superboard and their CEO Ste-
services coulc be just part of health care de- health care. You’re covered! phen Duckett.

8. Edmonton
ACTIVE IN YOUR David Eggen – 780 423 4581
COMMUNITY Calgary
Ted Woynillowicz – 403 286 9283
Palliser
F riends of Medicare have a
number of chapters and af- Jan Bunney – 403 526 0332
Talking about the liates supporting public health-
care across the province.
chapters and a liates act as lo-
e Hinton
Lynda Jonson – 780 865 2360
Alberta Health Act cal representatives for Friends of
Medicare and help to organize Peace Country
Albertans need to hear about the Alberta around local health issues . Health Coalition
Health Act and its implications. You can help: peace-health-care-coalition@googlegroups.com
For example, in Medicine Hat
• distribute copies of this paper to friends and the Palliser chapter hosts Medi- Canmore
neighbours care Mondays at various local Anne Wilson – 403 688 5325
• call your MLA to express your concern co ee shops and restaurants to
• go to the Horne Committee hearings discuss health care with mem- Lethbridge
• come to a Friends of Medicare event bers of the public. e Peace Michael Cormican – 403 381 7635
• organize a co ee party or a discussion time country chapter has rallied more
than 6 communities together Red Deer
Call Friends of Medicare if you would like a to ght for their local hospitals. Brenda Corney – 403 347 9108
speaker to come and talk, or get extra copies of Many chapters host educational
materials. Keep in touch! speakers and sessions as well as Pincher Creek
social events and rallies. Joan Turcott – 403 627 3602
Our public health care system is the most valuable public asset we own together as a so- is the provincial government’s bias to expand private health care and diminish our
ciety. Public health care is there for everyone, and is part of what makes us a strong, car- public Medicare system. Public health care is more economical, more equitable, and
ing and just nation. ere will always be individuals who seek to privatize our health certainly more e cient than private-for-pro t medicine. Countries around the world
care system for nancial gain, so it is up to us to stand up and ght for a strong public look enviously at what Canada has achieved. It is up to the public to push for a stronger,
health system. Private-for-pro t business interests are gaining in uence in Alberta. It expanded system for the 21st century. - David Eggen- Executive Director, Friends of Medicare