A research group fears the growing role of the private sector in health and denounces the fact that Quebecers’ money is used to finance virtual care firms like Dialogue, close to the Desmarais clan, to the detriment of the public system.
“We risk ending up with an unfair system where the people who need it the most will have difficulty getting a service,” worries Anne Plourde, researcher at the Institute for Socio-economic Research and Information ( IRIS) and author of a study which has just been published.
Dialogue, AlayaCare… IRIS fears that major telehealth players will impose themselves here while Quebec is supposed to have laws to prevent the development of a “health market”.
What shocks IRIS is to see the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec bet more than 14 million dollars in Dialogue. Even Investissement Québec, a government corporation, has already granted a loan of $2 million to Dialogue, underlines IRIS.
“That poses a problem because we know that these companies will promote a two-speed health system,” denounces Anne Plourde of IRIS.
“No danger”
According to the researcher, the labor shortage in the public sector will worsen, as workers increasingly go to work in the private sector.
Last April, The newspaper reported that Dialogue, partly owned by Sun Life, White Star Capital and the Desmarais clan, was discussing with Quebec to be able to offer more private health care.
“We have always had very open and very positive conversations with the government, especially with the Minister [Christian] Dubé and his team,” said the Log Dialogue’s CEO, Cherif Habib.
“There is no danger that it will take the place of the public. We are in a society in which the health system is universal and public”, he assured, recalling the importance of equity and free health care.