Quebec health care workers are raising concerns about Alberta-style private clinics and further erosion of universal access to health care after the recommendations of the Clair Commission were released earlier this week.
The report presents a five-year plan that recognizes the social, economic and environmental factors that contribute to health, including proposals directed at youth and at persons with disabilities. But the report also supports a new insurance scheme that would fund care for the elderly that raises questions about coverage, costs and employer contributions.
Support is offered to doctors group practises, raising questions about the future role played by the existing network of community clinics (CLSCs). And most disturbing, the report sees publicly-funded private clinics as an established fact within the health care system rather than an intrusion to be reversed.