Human rights panel orders Alberta to stop same-sex discrimination in health care coverage

Employers were willing to cover dependants as family, but province refused to give family rates to same-sex couples

Same-sex couples and their children in Alberta are entitled to family coverage under the province’s medicare program, according to a recent decision by the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission.

The commission ordered the province to stop denying family coverage to same-sex couples and their children.

Thirteen residents filed complaints with the commission after the province’s medicare system, Alberta Health and Wellness, denied family coverage because the definition of “common-law spouse” under Alberta’s Health Insurance Premium Regulations mandated that common-law couples be of the opposite sex.

The complainants had applied through their employer benefit programs to have their same-sex partners and the children of their partners covered under the family rate as provided for in the regulations. The employers were willing to cover these dependants as family.

The panel decided that, “…the denial by Alberta Health and Wellness of family coverage to same-sex couples and their children is discrimination on the basis of ‘sexual orientation’ in the provision of services customarily available to the public” contrary to the Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act.

The panel ordered Alberta Health and Wellness to stop denying coverage to same-sex couples and their children who would otherwise be eligible, refrain in the future from denying access to health care coverage on the basis of sexual orientation, change the definition of “common-law spouse” in the regulations so that it is inclusive of same sex couples, make Alberta health care coverage available to the complainants at the family rate.

Decisions by the panel have the same force and effect as a decision by the Court of Queen’s bench. Any party to a complaint can appeal the decision to the court within 30 days of receiving it. This is the first human rights panel decision in Alberta involving sexual orientation.

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