HEALTH Minister Adrian Dix on Thursday issued a statement in response to actions taken by the Medical Services Commission in regard to Telus’s LifePlus program, saying: “Earlier this year, I directed the Medical Services Commission to review Telus Health following complaints made by the public of illegal extra billing.”

He said: “I understand today the commission applied to the British Columbia Supreme Court for an injunction against Telus Health, in particular, Telus’s LifePlus program, alleging contraventions of the Medicare Protection Act.”

Dix added: “It is 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 an individual’s ability to pay.

“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.

“We will allow the legal process to proceed as it should. In the meantime, this government will continue to strongly defend our public health-care system.”