CANADIAN COURT REFUSES TO LEGISLATE

SCOTUS should take note

The Supreme Court of Canada refused to elevate health funding to a constitutional right in a ruling that was a stunning setback for families of autistic children asking the state to pay for expensive treatment. The unanimous and unequivocal decision overturned two British Columbia court rulings that found the provincial government violated the Charter of Rights equality guarantees for the disabled. Yesterday's decision will have an impact across Canada, hindering lawsuits in which parents in several provinces are seeking court orders forcing governments to pay for early intervention therapy that costs up to $60,000 per year per child.

The case was considered one of the most significant social policy issues to reach the high court in years. All 10 provinces and Ottawa intervened to warn the judges that governments would need unlimited budgets if health care were to become all things to all people. Constitutional expert Jamie Cameron said that it would have been difficult for the court to carve out an exception for autistic children without exposing the stretched health system to a flood of lawsuits on behalf of people seeking coverage for other disabilities. "The court has shown appropriate institutional caution here in resisting the invitation to constitutionalize the health-care system," said Mr. Cameron, a law professor at York University in Toronto. "Once the precedent is created, it would encourage other claims."

Parents of autistic children are devastated and outraged. At the Supreme Court, Ottawa mother Debbie Barbesin, her eyes filled with tears, wondered how she will continue to pay therapy bills for her eight-year-old son, Dylan. David Sherriff-Scott, an Ottawa lawyer whose autistic son turned 11 yesterday, said the absence of state funding "dooms these children to a life of being marginalized." In Langley, B.C., Sabrina Freeman, mother of 16-year-old Miki, denounced the ruling as "total unadulterated garbage" and chastised the judges for caving in to political pressure. "If my child is not entitled to be part of the health care system, then the government is not entitled to my taxes," she said.

The 7-0 ruling was the culmination of a six-year legal battle begun by four B.C. families after the government refused to fund what is known as Lovaas autism treatment, saying it was "novel, controversial, experimental and not a medically necessary service." The treatment, which has shown dramatic results in some cases, was pioneered in the United States by psychologist Ivar Lovaas in the late 1980s. Autistic children undergo 20 to 40 hours a week of intensive one-on-one therapy that is most effective when a child is young.

Source

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation.

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