“We're not going to lie: it's very profitable in the private sector. The public, we'll see.. I don't want to say ruthlessly.. but it's almost voluntary. It's less efficient, it's less productive, we work on call, go home in the evening. We're stuck with coming in and working weekends. It's like a good thing we're doing there.”
Many readers have mistakenly swallowed their coffee while reading In this quote Press, last week This is from orthopedic surgeon David Blanchet, the owner of a private clinic, who has threatened to quit his hospital job permanently if the government prevents him from shuttling between the public and private sectors at will.
According to information revealed by our parliamentary correspondent Tommy Chouinard, the Minister of Health is actually considering various measures to curb or at least slow down the phenomenon of two-level medicine in Quebec.
Quote from DR Blanchett is shocking, it's true. For the public, an orthopedic surgeon earns an average of $514,266 per year.
Photo by Alain Roberge, Law Press Archives
DR David Blanchett, in 2014
“I think there are a lot of people who want to volunteer at that salary,” joked… DR Blanchett, herself, is painfully aware that she has expressed herself badly. “That was not my intention. I want to talk about less efficient situations [au public] And access to operating rooms is difficult. I really chose the wrong word. »
I want to believe. And I don't want to overburden the doctor who has no doubt expressed in a loud, awkward way what some of his colleagues are quietly thinking. Anyway, it's not DR Blanchett, issue.
Nor is it the fact that a growing number of doctors are doing as he did by withdrawing from private practice before re-engaging later. Not only that, anyway.
The fundamental problem is the universal and free health system, which nobody is doing anything about – or very little, is slowly disintegrating before our eyes.
Tommy Chouinard forwarded me a sample of the angry emails he received, and it gave me some reassurance: not everyone has lost the ability to be scandalized.
15 years ago comments like this would have torn Quebec's shirt off. A universal health system, a collective pride, is a sacred monster that should not be touched under any circumstances. Private care is prohibited. No more.
In Quebec, private medicine was gradually trivialized and normalized. Celebrate, too. With good reason, some say: in the hospital, d patientsR Blanchett must wait three years for the operation, which required hospitalization. At the private clinic, “there really isn't a waiting list,” says the orthopedic surgeon. Patient can choose his operation date.
For a patient who has been plagued by pain for three years, the choice quickly becomes clear. All he has to do is exchange his Sun card for his credit card.
For the same treatment often provided by the same doctor, you now have a choice: pay top dollar or wait months, even years. It rightly rejected Quebec's two-tier medicine, with justifiable concern. For too long, we have refused to allow commercial logic to infiltrate our health system.
what happened Quebec has become the Canadian champion of private health care. Clinics that charge for services covered by the Régie de l'assurance santé du Québec (RAMQ) are expanding.
With $5,000 a year, you're eligible for all-inclusive: family doctor, health exams and follow-ups. You can also pay à la carte: $250 for a consultation, $25,000 for a hip replacement… there's something for everyone.
Migration towards the private sector is gaining momentum. RAMQ has never had many “non-participating” physicians. In January, there were 720 in Quebec, most of them family doctors. By comparison, all other Canadian provinces have a dozen… according to one An alarming investigation conducted last year Globe and Mail.
Ontario banned its doctors from affiliating with a public plan in 2003. In Alberta, a haven for entrepreneurship, patients seeking treatment quickly must return to the United States or… Quebec.
How did Quebec get there? If there is only one doctor to blame, it is probably Dr.R Jacques Choulli, this Franco-Québecer, led an epic struggle – even a hunger strike – in favor of the privatization of health care.
In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled in his favor: Quebecers languishing on waiting lists for months should have the right to take out private insurance for care covered by a public plan.
The Chaulli ruling, which applies only to Quebec, has limited legal effect. But he opened a breach. Since this ruling, healthcare privatization has gained increasing social acceptance in the province.
Mind you, this didn't really improve the state of our network.
Even today, DR Blanchette requests that D requestsR Chawli before Supreme Court: Delay, for people, inhumane. Among his patients awaiting the operation were workers who had been forced out of work. Older people are at risk of losing their homes and ending up in CHSLDs because they can no longer move around on their own.
The tragedies caused by these damned waiting lists abound.
The health system is failing everywhere. If most people go to private sector, it is because people cannot treat them in proper time frame. Who can blame them?
Private medicine is “a valve” to the public system, its defenders tell us. This has the enormous advantage of reducing waiting lists. And then, for surgeons, it's better to operate in the private sector than sit around waiting to work in the public sector. The health network is in such a bad state that surgeons have little access to operation theatres, which are often closed due to shortages of nurses and respiratory therapists.
All this is correct. But this is also a vicious circle.
If there is a shortage of such workers in the network, many health care workers will choose to migrate to the private sector, where they do not have to have a network that does not exist at all.
However, the more broken down the network, the more workers will jump to the private sector and the worse the network will be…
In the short term, it is true, the private sector will be a valve for the public. But in the long run, that won't save him. If we continue to let it grow, it will end him too.
