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Bill C-497

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SUMMARY

The purpose of this enactment is to provide that provinces that permit private hospitals to operate will have a deduction made from the amount that would otherwise be paid as the Canada Health and Social Transfer.

A private hospital is defined as one that offers medical services that require an overnight stay, surgery other than minor surgical procedures or enhanced surgical procedures for an extra fee and that receives payment or part payment from public funds. Minor surgical procedures are to be defined in the regulations and will include those minor surgical procedures that do not normally require an overnight stay.

If the laws of the province do not forbid the operation of private hospitals at the beginning of a fiscal year, the deduction from the Canada Health and Social Transfer may be the full amount the province will spend in payments to private hospitals for medical services and surgical procedures for that year.

If no deduction was made for a fiscal year and after the end of the fiscal year the Minister determines that the laws of the province did not forbid private hospitals for all or part of that fiscal year, a deduction from the transfer for the next fiscal year is to be made, equal to the amount that the Minister determines to be the amount spent on by the province in payments to private hospitals for medical and surgical services for the year or, if the non-compliance was only for part of the year, for the part that the province was not in compliance.