B.C. Medical Services Commission files court injunction against Telus Health over fee-based program

A commission overseeingB.C.'s public health insurance program has taken court action against Telus Health's fee-based LifePlus program, claiming the service is breaking the law by charging patients for services that should be publicly covered.

The B.C. Medical Services Commission's injunction application, filed Thursday, claimed LifePlusis violatingthe extra billing provisions of the province's Medicare Protection Act.

The program leads people to believe they will get preferential treatment if they pay for a membership, allegedthe petition filed in B.C. Supreme Court.

"It is very important to uphold the Medicare Protection Act, which is in place to preserve our publicly managed and fiscally sustainable health-care system for British Columbia," said Health Minister Adrian Dix at a news conference on Thursday.

The province began investigating the program in February. Court documents saida would-be patient and a private investigator said they were told they would have to payan annual feeto see a family doctor, which isn't allowed under the Medical Protection Act.

The act ensures access to necessary medical care should be based on need, not an individual's ability to pay.

An estimated one in five nearly a million British Columbians do not have a family doctor, with the lack of access to primary care puttingpressure on emergency rooms,urgent care centres and specialist's offices. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the problem, leading to staffing shortages, emergency room closures andhours-long ambulance delays with potentially fatal consequences.

Telus Health denied the accusations Thursday, saying its program is only trying to relieve pressure on the public system.

It said itsfees$4,650 in the first year and $3,650 in subsequent yearsare not for primary care and "strictly" foruninsured services like dietitians, kinesiologists and other healthand wellness needs.

"We're blindsided right now and I think that's very disrespectful, and it's quite a shame. We are disappointed with the route that the Medical Services Commission has chosen," vice-president Juggy Sihotatold a teleconference after the injunction application was filed.

"The services that we have them providing through the life program are for preventative care. If a preventative care patient is coming to use the service and has an insured service request, that physician is free to provide that care to that patient of their own accord."

The commission is asking the courts to declare thatTelus Health is violatingthe Medicare Protection Act. It's also seekinginterim, interlocutory and permanent court orders to stop Telus Health's physicians fromprovidingMSP-covered services.

Sihota didn't say whether Telus will be fighting the injunction but said it "welcomes the legal proceeding." The company has 21 days to respond.

Patient says he lost his family doctor toTelus Health

In an affidavit filed as part of the proceedings, Vancouver resident Mark Winston, 72, said his family doctor informed him last December that he would be shutting down his family practice and moving over toTelus Health.

The sworn statement said patients were told to find a new physician or speak with Telus Health about its fee-based membership.

Winston said he was told he could only continue seeing his doctor ifhe paid.

"I was devastated because he was, I'm sure still is,a fantastic physician, and I've been with him for probably 14 or 15 years and really had a great relationship with him," said Winston, a retiredSimon Fraser Universityprofessor.

An analysis foundfewer than sevenper cent of the family doctor's patients followed him to Telus Health, according to the court filing.

"At my age and with the relationship I built with my family doctor, I really did think about doing it because I didn't want to lose that care, but I just don't believe in private health care," Winston said, speaking in an interview Thursday.

"I don't believe any Canadian should have to spend $4,000 a year to see a primary care provider."

Winston said he managed to find another family doctor, but she's leaving her practice soon for other reasons. He's nowwaitingto be taken inby another doctor at the same clinic.

"That just highlighted for me how precarious our primary care system was it left me without any primary care, which turned out to be quite a journey," he said.

Under the Medical Protection Act, health insurance premiums are permitted as long as residents are not denied coverage for medically necessary hospital and physician services.

Dix notedthe province's concern is only regardingfees charged by the LifePlus program, not other aspects of Telus Health.

"We do significant work on a number of files [and] health issues with Telus, and they're an outstanding corporation in B.C.," he said. "[The injunction application] only reflects aspects of that program."

The Medical Services Commission is a statutory body made up of three government representatives, three from Doctors of B.C. and three from the general public. The group manages the MSP programon behalf of the provincialgovernment.

Dixsaid the commissionwill argue its casein the coming weeks.