100 signatures reached
To: All residents of British Columbia
Remove financial barriers for rural British Columbians seeking healthcare services
We call on the British Columbia Premier and Cabinet to present this petition to the Legislative Assembly and bring forward legislation that removes financial barriers to health services caused when rural residents require care away from home. Signing this petition signifies your support for legislation that removes barriers to accessing health care for rural residents.
Why is this important?
In a survey gathering data from 2017 to 2020, the Centre for Rural Health Research reports that the average total out-of-pocket costs for 381 BC patients accessing health care outside their home community was $2234 per patient and 78% of survey respondents reported difficulty in paying these costs. The full report is available at the following link: https://crhr.med.ubc.ca/resources/reports/
Too many rural British Columbians have suffered for far too long as a result of this situation. The severity of the problem is now clearly evident and the BC Rural Health Network calls on all BC residents to sign this petition calling on local and provincial policy makers to take action immediately to correct it.