Some observers argue that imposing a health contribution on unvaccinated people would call into question the fundamental principle of our health system, namely universality. Others argue that we do not impose a fine on those … who choose a high risk hobby. Let us examine these statements in the light of current Quebec social legislation.
Posted at 9:00 a.m.
At the end of the 1970s, Quebec set up a public automobile insurance plan that compensates road accidents regardless of fault. Road users fully assume the financing of the Plan, which reimburses the loss of income of road accident victims in addition to providing them with all the medical and rehabilitation care their condition requires. The Plan also pays the Quebec Ministry of Finance approximately $ 150 million annually to reimburse the cost of health care and rehabilitation that road accident victims obtain from the public health network.
The Plan offers the same care and the same benefits to all victims of road accidents; however, it requires a much higher premium from those who ride a motorcycle to compensate for the greater risk involved in this case.
He also asks drivers who collect demerits to contribute more. As far as I know, there is no legal challenge to these provisions.
No one calls into question the universality of the Quebec health system because of the existence of this special regime which has made it possible to clearly determine the causes of road accidents and to prevent many of them with a judicious mix of preventive measures. and repression. Quebec now has an enviable record in road safety.
A COVID-19 health contribution certainly does not mean that we are proposing to limit care to unvaccinated people. As far as I know, we have never refused to treat a smoker or an alcoholic, even if Quebec does not hesitate to heavily tax tobacco and alcohol.
Who became an alcoholic while styling a client who abuses alcohol? Spending a lifetime in the company of a cardiac person does not expose us to developing this same pathology. On the other hand, today, one can easily catch COVID-19 during a meeting of a few minutes with an unvaccinated person, and suffer serious consequences.
A COVID-19 health contribution for the unvaccinated, modulated according to income, is an appropriate measure, in the circumstances, when we know the impact of the spread of the pandemic on the health network, on patients who are waiting care, on the additional risks that the unvaccinated pose to other citizens, without forgetting the economic consequences of the pandemic on small businesses and their employees.