The Fight against Health Care User Fees: Bravo! for Quebec's Doctors

User fees are not what the doctors ordered, thank goodness. Yesterday a coalition of Quebec medical groups came out strongly against the idea of charging user fees for medical visits and treatments. They were responding to the Charest government's proposal included in last month's provincial budget to put a $25 charge on each treatment.

This is the "zombie" idea of Canadian health care. It keeps coming back, even though it is clear that it: 1) hurts those people least able to defend themselves, 2) makes health care more expensive because not only does it it require mechanism for processing the fees, it also dissuades people from getting timely medical treatment which avoids more expensive treatment down the line, and 3) is against the princples behind the mostly-terrific Canadian health system, and counter to the Canada Health Act.

Given the vigorous response from all quarters of Quebec society to the user fee proposal, it may be that Charest and company thought to use it to direct fire away from other ideas in the budget, including a once-a-year head tax ($25 this year, rising to $200 in two years) that the government seems determined to impose. Could be. Could be also that Charest and his friends are just out to lunch.

What is clear is that little help in this battle has come from the federal political parties, including the New Democratic Party, which aside from one question in the House of Commons about whether the Canada Health Act would be amended, has said nothing. And this from the party that inspired and fought for Medicare!

Health care is a provincial responsiblity, but federal money is involved, and any party which claims to espouse universally accessible health care should be front and center in defending the Canada Health Act.