Portability Principle Violation Under the Canada Health Act Essay

The federal government implements the portability principle to facilitate effective delivery of services among people at various locations of Canada. The federal government in Canada is actively directly and indirectly involved in many areas of the health provision structure where provincial governments have jurisdiction to implement the portability principle. The principle involves monitoring and allocating funds, and other resources needed to ensure that all the services are provided. During the wave of changes experienced in the 90s, the federal government involved health officials in the supervision of portability policy to prevent violation of the Canada Health Act (Sibbald & Stanbrook, 2016).

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The violation of the portability principle necessitated complaints by the aggrieved citizens in Ottawa who had to wait for close to six weeks to get a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) treatment. However, the portability policy prohibits exploitation of patients to pay to get the MRI (Sibbald & Stanbrook, 2016). The publicly funded health care is in the best interest of the citizens as enshrined in the portability policy. In the 2005 case of Chaoulli vs. Quebec, the court ruled that waiting a whole year for a hip replacement was a violation of the human rights of the citizens (Sibbald & Stanbrook, 2016). Such factor illustrates how the portability principle was violated.

Therefore, the inclusivity of the portability principle aims at eliminating the interprovincial difference in covering Canada Health Act procedures and treatment, since most of the pharmaceutical coverage is not outlined in the Canada Health Act (Deber & Gamble, 2017). The Canada Health Act does provide a clear explanation on the doctrine of portability by adhering to the statutes of the Canada Health Act and for this case the portability of the health care system to enhance effective delivery of health services.

Actions to be taken on the violations of Portability principle of the Canada Health Act

The federal government has initiated stringent measures to overcome the violation of the portability principle by involving and training more health workers on the benefits of upholding the doctrine of portability. The federal government also prohibits health facilities that that charge patient excess fees and encourages quality of health care for effective realization of the principle of portability. The Canada Health Act emboldens the public to use health facilities near their households thereby increasing service delivery close to people and embracing the portability policy (Flood, & Thomas, 2016).

The solution to controlling the violation of the portability principle is through the inclusion of other health organizations that sensitizes the public on the benefits of the Canada Health Act (Smiley, 1987). Interpreting the laws of the portability principle will effectively ensure that there is a clear understanding of the Act and that the violations are contained with penalties to those found violating the Canada Health Act. Such an approach will enable the government to control and mitigate the violation of the portability principle which is essential in improving the delivery of health services in Canada (Deber & Gamble, 2017).