How do health care premiums in Alberta compare to other provinces?
Only Alberta and British Columbia have healthcare premiums. Other provinces fund their healthcare through general taxation revenue. The collection of Premiums necessitates the establishment of a large department for the administration, processing of payments, collection of outstanding accounts, and verification of ‘income testing’, i.e. proof by low-income citizens who may be eligible for assistance for full or partial payment. Premiums also place a disproportional burden on those in middle and lower incomes as opposed to the highest earners. Seniors and those on fixed incomes face full direct payments, while governmental and corporate employees and officials have full or half payments by their employer. And in the end, the recent thirty percent increase will have to be absorbed by corporations, small businesses, and municipalities and Regional Health Boards, or be passed along to the citizens in the way of higher prices or fees.
