Alberta's Bill 11 paves the way for private health care in Canada, weakening access to health care for all.
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Alberta's Bill 11 paves the way for private health care in Canada, weakening access to health care for all.
In late 2025, the Alberta government introduced Bill 11, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (No.2). This legislation would fundamentally restructure health care delivery in Alberta in three key ways:
Bill 11 would allow physicians to work in both the public and private systems. Evidence from places that allow for dual practice shows that physicians are incentivized to shift their attention toward higher-paying private patients, reducing the capacity of the public system and increasing wait times for everyone who cannot afford to pay out of pocket.
The bill creates Canada’s first provincial private insurance market for medically necessary physician and hospital services. The bill opens the door for U.S. health insurance companies and for-profit operators to enter the Canadian market, driving up overall healthcare costs while creating a parallel system accessible only to those who canpay.
If Bill 11 proceeds unchallenged, it sets a precedent for other provinces to follow suit. The cumulative effect could effectively dismantle the Canada Health Act framework that has protected universal health care since 1984 in Canada.
This is not solely an Alberta issue. The Canada Health Act establishes national standards that ensure every Canadian has access to medically necessary health care regardless of theirability to pay. If the federal government does not act on Bill 11, it signals that provinces can override these protections without consequence.
The federal government has the ability to act and it should by:
