Quebecers open to more private health services: Poll

From The National Post, Global News

Talking about private health care in Quebec is still relatively taboo — especially on the campaign trail — but a new Leger poll indicates Quebecers are seemingly more open than politicians to discussing the idea.

Seventy per cent of respondents said they welcomed more access to medical services offered by private companies — as long as they don’t have to pay out of pocket.

Moreover, 42 per cent of respondents said they agreed with the proposition that the Quebec government allow private companies to run public hospitals, compared with 44 per cent who were opposed. The remaining 14 per cent did not know or refused to answer.

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McGill University Prof. Amelie Quesnel-Vallée, director of the McGill Observatory on Health and Social Services Reforms, warned that adding more private services would affect the public system. “Health professionals have to come from somewhere,” she said in an email. “If they’re practicing in the private sector, they’re not in the public. Even if the private didn’t offer higher salaries, the increased demand would drive salaries up, and the public system would have to bear extra costs.

National Post, Global News