{
  "id": 9979028,
  "title": "Opinion: Albertans can now buy their own medical imaging scans — but then what?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/26/opinion-albertans-can-now-buy-their-own-medical-imaging-scans-but",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-26T12:46:53.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Calgary Herald",
    "slug": "calgary-herald",
    "url": "https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-albertans-can-now-buy-their-own-medical-imaging-scans-but-then-what"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "As of July 31, 2026, Albertans can purchase medical imaging scans, including X-ray, ultrasound, CT and MRI, without a physician referral. That means anyone willing to pay can have whatever test they want, whether medically indicated or not. This may sound appealing. It’s true that wait times for diagnostic imaging have become unreasonably long, with patients […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}