Today, Cambie's lawyers filed a new Civil Claim against Section 18.1 of the Medicare Protection Amendment Act.

Section 18.1 was a new section added to the Medicare Protection Act. The NDP Government enacted this legislation in April - see our press release about Bill 92 HERE. Section 18.1 puts limits on direct or extra-billing in a diagnostic facility - in other words, enrolled physicians cannot charge patients directly, or more than the negotiated fee with the Ministry of Health.

Because there were changes to the legislation that this trial is based on, Day's lawyers had to amend their Notice of Claim to make sure it related to the current, updated legislation, specifically relating to Sections 17, 18 and 18.1.

Judge Steeves ruled however, that since Section 18.1 is new legislation (it did not exist in the Medicare Protection Act, which the current trial is based on) and neither Cambie and Specialist Referral Services are directly affected by the legislation since they do not offer diagnostic services, it could not be included in the current civil claim filed by Cambie. They would have to start a whole new claim - which they now have done, and have added a new claimant - Surrey MRI Clinic.

There are still a number of steps before this becomes an actual case in the courts - we will keep you posted.