Medical students oppose two-tier, petition CMA
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* Barbara Sibbald

More than 20% of Canadian medical students have signed a petition asking the CMA to support publicly funded and accessible medical services.

The petition was set up by the Student Medical Reform Group following CMA delegates' vote last August to support allowing private health insurance and private-sector health services. The reform group, which started 3 years ago at the University of Toronto, is affiliated with the Medical Reform Group, a voluntary group of socially minded physicians concerned with the social, economic and political factors influencing health care.

As of late May, the petition ([www.medicalreform.ca](http://www.medicalreform.ca)) had garnered 1107 signatures representing every Canadian medical school; there are 8177 medical students across Canada.

“It's pretty significant for a grassroots initiative,” says Larissa Liontos, who is in the third year of the MD/PhD program at the University of Toronto.

The reform group hopes the petition will result in the CMA “publically stating they support a universally accessible health care system and that patients' ability to pay won't interfere with their access to care,” says Liontos, co-chair of the reform group's Toronto chapter. “Paying out of pocket is counter to accessibility,” she added. “We don't want to see our future colleagues going down that road.” 

The vote has also embodied an inherent conflict of interest since physicians stand to gain from the move, she pointed out.