Québec solidaire which seems to accept a role for private health… I couldn’t believe my ears! Last Friday, their health spokesperson, Vincent Marissal, suggested imposing a price scale on private clinics to avoid abuse.
Although I am not keen on seeing the government set prices, I consider that the idea of Québec solidaire has merit for the user. Moreover, the minister welcomed the proposal with openness. The fact remains that the most left-wing party in Quebec is making constructive suggestions to improve the contribution of private clinics rather than imposing an ideological dismissal.
In the last campaign, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois struggled to justify how he would do without the contribution of private clinics to reduce the wait for surgery. The delays accumulated during the pandemic have not been resolved, so thousands of patients are waiting out of time. Private clinics perform thousands of surgical procedures, paid for by RAMQ, contributing to this effort to empty the lists.
- Listen to the Dutrizac – Dumont meeting via QUB :
Partner
The private sector has become a partner of the health network. I, who once dared to suggest providing Quebec with a mixed, public-private health system, am sincerely impressed by the development. In times not so long ago, it was taboo to put the two words (“private” and “health”) in the same sentence.
Not only has the private sector taken a more normal place, but discussion is now possible. We can debate the advantages and disadvantages without being muzzled by a scarecrow like “two-tier medicine!” » or “American health!” “.
Let us understand: not everything that is private is necessarily good. There can be inefficiencies and scams in the private sector. In the same way, not everything that is the responsibility of the state is bad. Wonderful things are happening in our current health system.
The goal is to find the complementarity that will offer the public the best care in the right time. The vast majority of patients do not take an ideological view of the matter. They want to be treated, they want to be operated on, they want to be cured, without losing their shirt.
ARCHIVE PHOTO, QMI AGENCY
Full contribution
Despite the increased role of the private sector, despite the taboo that has disappeared in society, our governments have not reached the stage of speaking openly about a mixed system, about public-private complementarity.
It’s as if we should just talk about private clinics as a necessary evil. As if we should let them in through the back door.
In the state of the network and services, we should have an open debate on the best way to do this. The public as a priority, the private as a complement. With a simple goal: to ensure that in one year, more medical visits and more surgical interventions take place in Quebec.
Because the ultimate goal, please, is that we have services.