Emmett Hall

Mr. Justice Emmett Hall’s 1964 report on health services in Canada and his recommendations led David Crombie to choose him to chair another Royal Commission on Health Services in 1979. As part of its mandate, the second Hall Commission examined two contentious issues: the impact of extra-billing, and possible provincial diversion of health care funds. Mr. Justice Hall reported to Minister Monique Bégin on August 29, 1980, pointing out that doctors chose extra-billing and opted out of medicare because they believed the provincial fee schedules were inadequate. He also noted that provinces were properly allocating federal health funds and that medicare was effective and popular. He recommended that billing disputes should be settled by binding arbitration and that doctors who opted out of medicare should not receive provincial payments.

Monique Bégin, Minister of National Health and Welfare, and Mr. Justice Emmett Hall.
Courtesy of Monique Bégin