Changes needed to ensure people without medicare cards always get treated, doctors say – CBC

Health Minister Gaétan Barrette insists the rule at the ER is simple: ‘You’ll be treated. Period.’

Mar 07, 2018

Kimberly Gloade wasn’t the first Indigenous person without a medicare card to fall through the cracks of the health system, but advocates for universal public health care want her to be the last.

Gloade’s 2016 death has prompted Médecins québécois pour le régime public, which represents about 500 doctors and medical residents, to call for system-wide changes.

“It’s not a fair expectation for hospitals and other health care institutions to expect that everyone’s going to have all their papers in order,” said Samir Shaheen-Hussain, a pediatric emergency doctor and a spokesperson for the public health-care advocacy group.

Read More: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/indigenous-woman-s-death-after-being-denied-treatment-at-muhc-highlights-systemic-problem-doctors-say-1.4565177

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