To speak of private health is to automatically incur excommunication by certain churches. One does not infringe a dogma with impunity! Some people are scandalized that profit is made on the backs of the sick. The real scandal is that, according to the most recent statistics, 160,000 people are waiting for surgery. They were 115,000 before the pandemic. People suffer and sometimes die for lack of timely treatment. It’s intolerable !
Posted at 1:00 p.m.
The quality of care in Quebec is good, very good even, but accessibility is lamentable. The machine is unable to respond to the request. For 30 years, every government has promised to fix the problem. As a result, the situation only gets worse. Accessibility is likely to deteriorate further with the aging of the population. Between 2020 and 2029, 520,000 people will be added to those aged 65 and over!
When we talk about private health care, many think of the American system, the costs of which are exorbitant and which leaves part of the population without care. This is not the way to go. We should rather look at Europe. In France, more than 1,000 out of 3,000 hospitals are privately owned for profit. These ensure 50% of hospitalizations and 65% of outpatient surgeries. These organizations are under contract with the state, and the patient pays nothing.
Should we borrow from this model? Let’s just say that France is reputed to have one of the best healthcare systems on the planet! Other countries, more social democrats, like Germany, Denmark, Spain have similar approaches. All these countries have been able to combine public and private forces.
Our public system relies on very competent and dedicated resources. State funding also guarantees its sustainability. But the state has the agility of a mammoth.
For example, on the technological level, the still recent use of fax machines as the main communication tool is a symbol of the inertia of this network.
The method of financing is also flawed. The annual budget is based on that of the previous year with the indexation of some parameters and not on a volume of activities, with a few exceptions. With the result that the fewer patients we treat, the better the finances… However, for several years, the Ministry of Health and Social Services has told us that it is doing studies to establish a cost per activity and change the funding model. But it’s late. In the end, perhaps there are fears in high government circles that by switching to financing according to the volume of activities, several establishments will show dynamism and push the bill upwards…
Since the start of the pandemic, the private sector has performed 85,000 surgeries. What would have happened without his input? However, nothing prepared him for such a request.
It is the strength of the private sector to be able to adjust quickly to unforeseen events. This is less dependent on the rigidity of collective agreements. Decisions are not subject to multiple hierarchical levels and political contingencies.
Some will say that with a greater place given to the private sector, there is a risk of emptying the public sector of its resources. If this were eventually the case, the unions and the employer party should ask themselves, in particular, whether they negotiated the right things. And what would be wrong with both staff and patients having some choice? Competition forces you to be better.
While she was Minister of Health and Social Services, Pauline Marois authorized the treatment of cancer patients in American hospitals, because our system could not do it in a reasonable time. Naturally, she had been much criticized. It was to his credit to have had the courage to take the side not of the system, but of the patient!
Mr. Legault, Mr. Dubé, Quebecers also expect you to take the side of the patient!