Showdown over private health care expected this week in Manitoba

McDonald tried to get Manitoba's Health Department to reimburse him and his wife for her MRI in Calgary, but he was turned down.
"They said, `No, services are available here,"' McDonald said. "It's stupid. Yeah, services are available, but what is your definition of available?"
Following the MRI, a specialist determined McDonald's wife needed a knee replacement. She is now on a list for surgery and has been told she may have to wait more than two years.
The patchwork of private services in different provinces has brought more business to health-care brokers, who for a fee will help patients find private services in other provinces or the United States.
"We've had many clients from Winnipeg, from Toronto and elsewhere," said Richard Baker with Timely Medical Alternatives in Vancouver.
"In the last three weeks, we've had about 15 people fly from Winnipeg to Vancouver for MRIs, CT scans."
A health-care economist said the federal government could tackle the issue by reducing transfer payments to provinces that allow MRIs.
"This is what they have to decide. Are they the government of Canada or what are they the government of?" asked Richard Plain, a former professor at the University of Alberta.
"You've got to treat all Canadians equally regardless of where they're located ... and when you don't, you start to get this mess and you start to get this checkerboard."
Over the last 20 years, Ottawa has fined various provinces more than $10 million for violating the Canada Health Act -- usually for allowing user fees for services covered by medicare.