Q&A: Employer-funded virtual care is a good thing — even for those who don’t have it

A Q&A with Liam MacDonald, Director, Policy and Government Relations, on the topic of employer-funded virtual care and why it’s a good thing for all Canadians.

What is employer-funded virtual care?

Employer-funded virtual care is an innovation that is working by increasing access to health care for millions of Canadians across the country by providing virtual access to medical professionals. These are completely free services provided as part of employment — with all costs covered by the employer as part of a benefits plan — with 10 million Canadians across the country currently benefitting from them.

What role is employer-funded virtual care playing in the Canadian healthcare landscape?

Unfortunately, as any Canadian who has recently sought medical treatment knows, wait times at overcrowded emergency rooms across the country have skyrocketed — reaching a nightmarish 22 hours on average in Ontario last December — and over 6 million Canadians do not have a family doctor.

Against this backdrop, employer-funded virtual care is increasing access to health care for millions of Canadians across the country, saving governments money and reducing the strain on our health care infrastructure. It is therefore extremely perplexing to watch Ottawa try to tear it down.

Why is the government looking to limit access to employer-funded virtual care?

In a recent Globe and Mail article, Health Canada painted Canadians with employer-funded virtual care as queue jumpers seeking preferential access. And the government has made it clear that it sees these services as a violation of the spirit of the Canada Health Act, which guarantees free access to medically necessary services, although services that charge patients out of pocket and those paid for by employers have been consistently conflated in the discourse. And while we agree that it is hard to defend the practice, virtual or otherwise, of charging patients out of pocket for care, almost no one is. But the existence and growth of these services are more an indictment of our public system than anything else. If, after all, Canadians didn’t have to wait unreasonable amounts of time at public clinics or ERs for basic treatment, or if the public system provided virtual care on similarly competitive terms, Canadians would not need — and they should not need — to pay for care.

Why should the government reconsider its stance?

When it comes to virtual care paid for by employers, it is hard to see how the principles of the Canada Health Act are violated. These services impose no out of pocket costs on patients who benefit from them. They are completely free. And the 10 million Canadians who have access to them are not the elitist group of queue jumpers they have been painted as — they are everyday Canadians, working in all sectors of the economy — from entry level employees to managers.

Moreover, when these services are used, they also benefit those who do not directly have access to them. They keep people with common ailments out of over-crowded ERs and walk-in clinics, which reduces wait times for everyone else. They also save governments money — approximately $52 for each visit according to one study. These are savings that can then be re-invested into the public system to improve the delivery of care.

Simply put, the existence of employer-funded virtual care services creates no losers. It expands access to care for employees who have access; it benefits employers who have a vested interest in supporting the health and well-being of their employees; it benefits others by taking pressure off public health care infrastructure; and it even benefits governments by saving them money.

For more information, read Liam’s op-ed in The Globe and Mail, Employer-funded virtual care is a good thing – even for those who don’t have it.