PCQ will rely on direct competition between the public and private sectors to improve the provision of care

The government led by Eric Duhemy will rely on the active promotion of competition between the private sector and the public sector and on private foreign investment to improve health care provision for Quebecers.

The completely transformed health care system, which relies on direct competition between the public and private sectors, will be at the heart of the small revolution that conservatives have called for during the upcoming election campaign.

Rather than being complementary, the contribution of private companies should be at the heart of the reform that will be implemented, according to her. And if private companies here and elsewhere that will invest in health make profits, so much the better.

Because without direct competition between the public network and the private company, D . expect^s Karim El Ayoubi, PCQ’s main spokesperson in health and party candidate at Argenteuil.

“We want foreign investors to use their financial capital and their smart capital to come here” to build private hospitals and private clinics, he said, describing his ideal model that helps convert patients into clients.

The doctor added that competition should become the “central instrument” available to the government “to attract investors” who would eventually want not only to build hospitals, but also to manage them, convinced of the need to end the state monopoly on health. .

considered d^s Al-Aobi was one of the keynote speakers invited to participate in the symposium organized by the party, Saturday, in Quebec, on the place of the private sector in the provision of health care.

According to him, despite the radical nature of the changes proposed by the Conservatives, their proposal does not conflict with the principles laid down in the Canadian Health Act, particularly on the grounds of universality. Therefore, an appeal to the court may appear “unlikely”.

In the face of a new dynamic, with the widest possible openness to private companies and insurance companies, the public health network will organize itself to be more efficient, he believes, to ensure its “survival”, and has no “option to adapt to its rival”.

Conservatives want to end the monopoly of the Régie de l’assurance maladie (RAMQ). They want Quebecers to be able to obtain private insurance (known as “duplicate”) for the services and care that RAMQ already provides. For example, a patient who is waiting for surgery and has private insurance can opt for treatment in a private clinic, if the long wait is considered in the public sector. In principle, the insurance company bears part of the bill. Tax credits can be provided, eventually.

This still raises the question of access. Not everyone will necessarily be able to afford private insurance, which can be very expensive. Thus, people with double insurance ultimately have an advantage over others, as they have the choice between waiting for their turn in the public network or turning to a private clinic. But PCQ assures that this way of doing things will be affordable for the middle class and help free up public queues.

according to d^s Al-Ayoubi, condemning the current “pseudo-universalism”, the monopoly in effect is “elitist”, since access to private clinics is restricted only to the wealthy, the only ones who can afford surgical intervention.

To make the system work, governors are counting on a whole series of major changes, such as allowing mixed practice for doctors, who can easily switch from public to private, day to day, which is currently prohibited. PCQ also wants to significantly increase the number of physicians, with the goal of training an additional 300 to 500 medical students each year.

In addition, we want to increase the powers and independence of health professionals, including nurses, and speed up recognition of health professionals with foreign degrees.

Conservatives are also promising a review of how hospitals are funded, an idea that has been circulating in other parties for years. The hospitals that treat the most patients will be the ones who will get the most money from the state. We must look at the patient as an income and not as an expense, summarized by Dr^s Ayyubid.

PCQ does not seek to “privatize” the health network, but to “liberate” it, qualifies the Doctor, who also advocates significant decentralization of the decision-making process.

The patient’s freedom is at the heart of the reform, we want, for example, to choose the hospital in which to perform the surgery. In fact, we want hospitals to compete with each other.

Conservatives believe it will take a decade to fully reform the health care system. But they want to initiate major changes from the first possible power grab in the National Assembly.

Saturday’s symposium attracted a few hundred activists, both on site and in virtual mode. Other speakers were invited to share their thoughts on the topic: Maria Lilly Shaw, Economist at the Montreal Economic Institute, Norma Khozaia, Vice President for Research and Chief Economist at Conseil du patronat du Québec, as well as CEO of the Montreal Economic Institute, Michelle Kelly Gagnon, and essayist Conservative Joan Marcotte.

The latest surveys showed that PCQ is on the rise. The party’s leader, Eric Dohemy, appeared briefly at the end of the conference to say that health was likely to be the central issue of the upcoming election campaign.