Let's replace the headline.

"Rich Albertans can get whatever medical tests they want, at the expense of basic healthcare for others."

"Alberta abandons Canada Healthcare principles, Federal government does nothing to stop them."

The death knell for public health care in Canada. Having grown up in Alberta, the public system saved lives in my immediate family. Maybe even mine.

It's not right for politicians to undermine publicly-funded, evidence-based healthcare.

We don't test for no reason. No test is perfect. And so doctors will order a test when the imperfect test can meaningfully inform subsequent decision-making, based on other pieces in the clinical picture.

I'm not sure how the system will manage medically unnecessary tests on many levels.

Let's say some rich asshole, considering themselves an expert and wanting to take advantage of this anti-democratic system, pays for an MRI of their head with no doctor's referral simply because they have a headache.

What priority is their scan given? Can they bump a medically necessary scan? Is it clearly communicated to the radiologist interpreting the scan that only a patient and not a healthcare provider deemed it necessary? Is the cranial MRI marked as medically unnecessary on any subsequent health records? (From a healthcare perspective, when one sees a cranial MRI done, they're thinking something much more clinically relevant than a headache happened; and this stands to cause a lot of confusion and wasted time)

Also, diverting the system towards privatization is a huge abandonment of trying to improve our public system. Shame on the UCP!

This existed well before Friday. My doctor recommended I pay to get a quicker scan last year. I'm not sure of the exact details since I didn't do it.

I won't say I'm not tight with cash, which factored into the decision, but I also really hate this fall into private health care and don't want to support that. I was told it would be about $400 for a private MRI.

$750 with insurance where I live.

Im always torn by the privatization, because yah its going to create a 2 tiered system. But also, now I can actually look at something that needs to be looked at when the list is 3 years long any other way? Sign me the fuck up, here's 2 grand. Show me the fucking problem now and we can fix it hopefully.

Fucking disgusting, if this country had any morality left this would be immediately repealed and everyone involved given prison time.