Limits to health costs coverage.

• Author: Mitchell, Teresa
• Position: Bench press - Auton (Guardian ad litem of - Attorney General - Brief Article

BC parents of children with autism alleged that the provincial government's refusal to fund a specific high intervention treatment infringed their children's equality rights under the Charter of Rights. They were successful at trial and at the BC Court of Appeal, but the province appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Chief Justice McLachlin began the unanimous judgment of the Court: "One sympathizes with the petitioners, and with the decisions below ordering the public health system to pay for their therapy. However, the issue before us is not what the public health system should provide, which is a matter for Parliament and the legislature. The issue is rather whether the BC Government's failure to fund these services under the health plan amounted to an unequal and discriminatory denial of benefits under that plan, contrary to s. 15 of the Charter. Despite their forceful argument, the...