April 18, 2007: “Rampant” Fraud On Medical Cards, Etc.
This bulletin refers to “Health Reform, The Obvious Ways”, an article written by Ottawa immigration lawyer Julie Taub. Ms. Taub is a former member of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board. (Try googling for this article. The author's permission to use it has expired.)
In it, Ms. Taub identifies four immigration-related ways to improve Canada's Health Care system: #'s 1,3 and 4 deal directly with immigration; #2 deals with “doctor shopping” and presumably involves both long-term Canadians as well as legal or illegal immigrants.
As a practicing immigration lawyer, Ms. Taub uses her experience with immigration law to point out what her clients refer to as “rampant” medical card fraud. She also criticizes a common Canadian teaching-hospital policy of selling residency positions to non-Canadian medical graduates—a practice which, she says, contributes to a shortage of doctors in Canada.
Finally, like the Ontario physician-examiners who are responsible for certifying foreign doctors, she points out that standards in medical training differ among countries. Governments not only have to admit that those differences exist, but also act accordingly—-in spite of pressure to be politically correct.
As she suggests, enacting policies which put this country and its citizens first as well as enforcing current laws would probably save the country hundreds of millions of dollars at the very least. These measures would also significantly relieve the pressure on Canada's Health Care system.
Ms. Taub's comments are particularly significant because they come from an immigration lawyer. As many immigration critics have pointed out, the interests of Canada and the interests of many immigration lawyers are often contradictory.
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NOTE: CTV's Kathy Tomlinson reported on the residency issue. Her article is available on the Immigration Watch Canada web site under “News Articles-Canadian”: October 18, 2005: Foreign Medical Trainees Leaving Canadians Out
