It’s a chance for Kamloops residents to hear about a major concern from the BC Health Coalition.
The non-profit is planning a meeting on Thursday night, October 11, to talk about the proliferation of private, for-profit surgical clinics and their impact on wait times and patient pocketbooks.
“We have reason to believe that 30 out of the 34 of BCS private clinic are engaged in extra billing,” said Coalition Co-Chair Rick Turner.
He says the BC Government has made some big strides to improve surgical and diagnostic wait times over the past year while simultaneously cracking down on unlawful billing.
“It does two real disservices to people,” adds Turner. “The federal government punishes us with some 16 million dollars in claw-backs from federal health care transfers. That’s a lot of money. That’s a lot of hip and knee replacements cataract surgeries and so on.”
“The other thing it does is make for longer wait times.”
The forum will feature a number of speakers. It takes place at St. Andrews on the Square.