UCP leaders stated that the proposed hybrid healthcare system aims to provide Albertans with the best possible healthcare, following Tuesday’s reports about leaked documents. Tuesday’s Question Period in the Alberta Legislative Assembly focused on rumours that the UCP plans to bring forward legislation to adopt a hybrid approach to the province's public healthcare system. “We have made a guarantee to Albertans that we intend to fully implement,” said Primary and Preventative Health Services Minister Adriana LaGrange. “We will make sure that no one has to pay out of pocket to see their family physician, nor pay out of pocket for essential services.” The proposed plan would allow individual doctors to choose between public and private funding, or a mixed model combining both, on a case-by-case basis. “Leading jurisdictions like Denmark, the Netherlands, the UK, and France all use hybrid models that allow physicians to flexibly serve their population in public and private settings,” said Hospital and Surgical Health Services Minister Matt Jones.A 2024 study by the Commonwealth Fund found that Canada ranked seventh among the studied countries for the fewest barriers to accessing affordable health care, with the Netherlands and the UK ranking first and second. .NDP members criticized the plan, arguing that it will establish a “two-tiered” healthcare system similar to the one in the United States. “So given that leaked cabinet documents demonstrate that UCP is moving full speed ahead on American-style, pay-as-you-go, health care, which minister over there is comfortable if one of their loved ones has cancer, having to pull out a credit card to pay for access,” said Sarah Hoffman. According to the UCP, however, the proposed plans will not force Albertans to pay for healthcare. “A person in Alberta, an Albertan, will never have to pay to see their family doctor,” LaGrange said. “That is the guarantee that we have made. Mr. Speaker, we will continue to enforce that, and stay tuned, member opposite, when we do put forward legislation in the near future.”Despite the statements made in the legislature Tuesday, no official legislation on the topic has been introduced, and there is no public timeline for when the UCP will table it.
