Will health care reform lead to privatization?
To privatize or not to privatize — that was the question when a cross-section of stakeholders gathered at Samuel Bronfman House on March 2 to debate the delivery of health care.
The audience included community workers, nurses, laboratory technicians, students from Concordia and from the Université de Montréal’s medical school. Five guests from various medical fields shared their views on whether privatization is viable.
In one corner, for privatization, were Valentin Petkantchin from the Montreal Economic Institute and Dr. Robert Ouellet from the Quebec Medical Association.
In the other corner, against, were Lina Bonamie from the Quebec Federation of Nurses, Dr. Richard Lessard of Montreal Public Health, and Coalition Solidarité Santé’s Gabrielle Pelletier.
Every panellist agreed that long delays for operations, crowded emergency rooms, and the looming problem of an aging population mean our system is in need of real reform.
According to Ouellet, the main point of contention was the notion of universality. Everyone wants a system that is universal, accessible and equal, but there’s no agreement on the means to get there.
Those against privatization believe it will create greater inequalities, and point to other ways to improve health care delivery.
Lessard said, “Spending in hospitals should be kept to a minimum because that is what costs the most. Doctors should prescribe generic drugs because they are cheaper and as efficient as brand name drugs, and doctors’ salaries should be oriented towards healing rather than imposed quotas.”
Petkantchin agreed with Ouellet that it is “inevitable to consider the entry of the private sector into health, because 30 per cent is already private anyway.” The model of other countries that have a mix of public and private delivery, such as Belgium and France, was cited.
Bonamie and Pelletier said that privatizating health care would turn it into a business for profit. “We need to stop thinking about the public system in fatalist terms, terms often promoted by the media,” Bonamie said
The publication of health minister Philippe Couillard’s white paper Feb. 16 was at the center of the panellists’ concerns.
On June 9, 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada declared that prohibiting access to private insurance for hospital and medical services covered by health insurance was a violation of the right to life and personal security, a right protected by the Canadian and Québec Charters of Rights and Freedoms.
Couillard is proposing that people be allowed to pay for their own hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery. Other procedures would be offered in private clinics (cliniques specialisées affiliées) whose doctors would sign contracts with hospitals to ensure a certain number of operations be available to the public.
The issue is scheduled to be discussed in a committee of the National Assembly.
The panel was hosted by longtime journalist Anne-Marie Dussault, ex-president of the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec and now on-air host at Télé-Québec.
She was glad to take part in this discussion. “Whenever I have the time, I try to get involved with projects at different universities,” she said.
Students from the School of Community and Public Affairs prepared this panel discussion, one of a series of five on public issues. The next panel, on the changing role of cities takes place on March 21. For more information, please call 848-2424 ext. 2575.