The Regulation of Private Health Care under the Canada Health Act and the Canadian Charter

Abstract

This comment considers what legislative or constitutional limits exist on governments' ability to regulate private, or for-profit, health care in Canada. The author chronicles the evolution of the Canadian health care system from private to publicly administered, and discusses the Canada Health Act and its impact on the provision of private health care services. The author considers whether section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the right to life, liberty and security of the person) can limit the government's ability to restrict private health care services. The paper concludes that, regardless of whether a Charter right to health is found, the major constraint on governments' ability to restrict private health care services is a political rather than a legal one.

Keywords: Canada, provincial, federal, regulate, regulation, law, private, for-profit, health care, Charter of Rights, section 7, government, private health care, right to health, constitution, constitutional limit