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Health care advocates call for end to user fees

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CTV Montreal
Published Sunday, January 26, 2014 3:52PM EST

Calling for an end to user fees, doctors and patients' rights advocates took to the chilly streets to demonstrate Sunday morning.

The protesters, which included Quebec Doctors for Medicare, said user fees are a barrier to health care for many Quebecers.
Many patients are charged for ointments or eye drops which the group considers an essential part of health care.

The group said if the province wants to charge for health care, it should reduce taxes, adding that health care costs $30 billion per year.

“More and more accessory fees are claimed among patients and we don't think it's fair because the principles of the health insurance law, at the very beginning, is to help you recover and maintain health. So any other fee should not be legal,” said Paul Brunet of the Council for the Protection of Patients.

Brunet said another big problem with Quebec health care is that the province spends more per capita on health care than other provinces, despite treating fewer patients.