The private sector on health care’s front lines: a new deal?

The central role of primary health care is indisputable. As the point of entry to our health-care system, primary care should in theory meet 80 per cent of Quebecers’ health and social service needs by preventing health problems from occurring or worsening. The Legault government’s health-care reform plan (Plan santé) aims to entrust primary care to Family Medicine Groups (or GMFs for groupes de médecine de famille) ― 75 per cent of which are privately owned ― and they are making it sound like this is a bold and innovative solution. Looking back at the last 50 years, Anne Plourde, author and researcher at the Institut de recherche et d’informations socioéconomiques (IRIS), found that the opposite is true. Private-sector involvement in primary care is nothing new, and the dominant view of primary care in Québec has largely been shaped by the private sector.

Read More

“Plan santé” – what is it?

Three years. That’s the deadline the Legault government has set itself to put the health and social services system back together with an action plan designed to make it “more human” and “more effective”. But what is the actual content of Minister Dubé’s Plan santé¸ aka the “Plan to implement changes needed in health care”? What are the Ministry’s objectives, how will it try to reach them, and, especially, what will be the impact on our system? We’ve gone through the 90-page document to find the answers.

Read More

The need for social change, by the numbers

Over the past two years, the APTS has been working to develop a new political platform. The second Carrefour des idées conference, Comprendre pour choisir (Understanding so we can choose), was held on May 5 and 6 as part of this process. Presentations and discussions were intended to help us take a step back and look at the overall context as we think about the best way to move forward. Here’s a recap of the opening talk by Damien Contandriopoulos, associate professor at the Faculté des sciences infirmières of the Université de Montréal.

Read More

Lower group insurance premiums for 2020

Insurance premiums have been lowered following a call for bids in the spring of 2019. The reduced premiums will be effective as of January 1, 2020. More information on the new premiums and applicable changes is provided in the tables below.

Read More

What we deserve… no more, no less

As partners in the upcoming public-sector negotiations, the APTS and the FIQ were united in their response to the unwelcome statements made by Premier François Legault.

Read More