Ottawa urged to protect workplace benefits

Insurers want law to allow employer-paid virtual health care

- KENYON WALLACE

The office of Health Minister Mark Holland said private health insurance through employer benefits "plays an important role in the Canadian health-care system."

The federal government should leave employer-paid virtual care offered through workplace benefit plans alone when it issues a long-anticipated interpretation of the Canada Health Act to address whether primary health-care providers other than doctors, such as nurse practitioners, can charge for medically necessary care.

That’s the message coming from business groups, insurance companies and virtual primary care providers to federal Health Minister Mark Holland, warning that a ban on out-of-pocket fees charged to patients seeking primary care could unintentionally impact access to such care through workplace benefit plans.

They say that unless Holland makes it clear in his Canada Health Act interpretation letter that employer-paid virtual care is allowed, these benefits, which include access to physicians, nurse practitioners and other health professionals, are at risk of elimination.

“The federal government should encourage employers to keep investing in the health and well-being of their employees and failing to do so would even accelerate or exacerbate the health-care accessibility crisis that is already going on,” said Marc Robin, medical director of Dialogue, the country’s largest employer-funded virtual health-care platform, offering services to some 6.5 million Canadians.

“Our ability to provide timely episodic care really improves access not only for people who don’t have a family physician, but also for patients who do have one but can’t see them in a timely fashion, complementing the public health-care system.”