B.C. files court injunction against Telus Health’s LifePlus program

The B.C. government has filed a court injunction against Telus Health after complaints about “illegal extra billing.”

Health Minister Adrian Dix says the Medical Services Commission was directed earlier this year to review complaints.

“Today, the commission applied to the B.C. Supreme Court for an injunction against Telus Health, in particular, Telus’ LifePlus program, alleging contraventions of the Medicare Protection Act,” Dix said Thursday.

“It’s very important to uphold the Medicare Protection Act, which is in place to preserve our publicly managed and fiscally sustainable health care system for British Columbia. Access to necessary medical care should be based on need and not on an individual’s ability to pay.”

Read More: Telus Health’s paid services under review

The commission was asked to look into whether private services offered by Telus Health for a fee let people jump the healthcare queue.

In an update Thursday, Telus Health Vice-President of Consumer Health Juggy Sihota said the program does not provide primary care services.

“The services that we have been providing through the LifePlus program are for preventative care. If a preventative care patient is coming to use a service and has an insured service request, that physician is free to provide that care to that patient of their own accord. That is not through our LifePlus program,” Sihota explained.

She says Telus Health has “fully collaborated with all requests for information” from the commission so far, adding it has also tried to engage with the commission to talk about compliance.

“To not, at this point, be given an opportunity to even have a discussion, to even get a response on our inquiries to say, ‘if there’s something that you think is not right, let us know, we will fix it.’ We’re blind right now on that and I think that’s very disrespectful and is quite a shame,” she said regarding the injunction.

Telus Health’s LifePlus program costs $4,650 for the first year. According to its website, it offers “access to support from a multidisciplinary care team,” as well as early detection and prevention programs, among other things.

Telus Health services are offered at locations in downtown Vancouver and in North Vancouver.

“That is why we introduced provisions to the act in 2018 that included new protections for patients to prevent extra billing, clarified rules around extra billing for medical practitioners, and established consequences for those who break the rules,” Dix said Thursday, adding there is a “distinction between Telus LifePlus and Telus Virtual Health.”

“In terms of next steps, the legal process will now unfold as it should,” Dix explained. “The Medical Services Commission will argue its case for an injunction in the coming weeks and in the meantime, the government will continue its efforts to strongly defend our public healthcare system.”

Meanwhile, Sihota says Telus Health “welcomes the legal proceeding.”

“We are disappointed with the route that the Medical Services Commission has chosen,” she said.

“We have been fully cooperative, we have been fully collaborative, we have shared all information that they have requested within almost 24 hours of the requests coming through. We have not received responses to our requests for conversation, our request for discussion, our request for fair process, and the opportunity to fix. If they found anything where we are not compliant, we will fix it. We have not been given the opportunity to do so, it feels rather political.”

Related Stories: 

• B.C. family physician says province needs to fix systemic issues causing doctor shortage

• B.C. fast-tracking licensing process for international doctors

• ‘I’m worried about our system’: B.C. mom recounts hours-long hospital wait with toddler

In response to the announcement, BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau says she’s concerned the injunction may leave even more British Columbians without access to a doctor.

“Telus and other for-profit companies have stepped into the gaps in B.C.’s healthcare system. The solution is to protect universal healthcare by creating a network of community health centres where doctors and their teams of health professionals could be meeting the needs of British Columbians,” she said in a statement.

The Medical Services Commission launched its investigation into Telus and “other patient-paid programs,” in June following complaints of the model allowing people to jump the healthcare queue.