Recently, during a medical consultation, the mayor of Rivière-Beaudette in Montérégie, Patrick Bousez, was recommended by his family doctor to make an appointment with a cardiologist at the Hawkesbury hospital in Ontario or, to go private.
As Mr. Bousez points out: When your own doctor suggests it…
It must be said that the prefect of the MRC Vaudreuil-Soulanges is a regular in Ontario hospitals.
Over the years, the latter has been there dozens of timeswhether in the emergency room, for cardiology follow-ups or to see a family doctor.
According to him, in his MRC, easily 30% to 40% of the population seek care in Ontario.
When we arrive at the overflowing Suroît hospital, overflowing Lakeshore, overflowing Anna-Laberge, then we have no other alternatives, unfortunately. This is a recurring problemspecifies the mayor and prefect.
The opening of a 40-bed hospital in Vaudreuil-Soulanges, scheduled in principle for 2026, should make it possible to reduce traffic in Ontario, as will the hospital project in Gatineau, the location of which has been subject to debates.
During a speech in the Outaouais on the occasion of the 2018 election campaign, the head of the CAQ, François Legault, deplored that Quebec continues to pay a hefty bill to Ontario for the health care provided to Quebecers.
Quebec currently pays millions of dollars annually […] in Ontario to treat Quebec patients […]. It is high time for concrete and decisive actions to be taken to face this embarrassing reality.he said.
Nearly $1 Billion Donated to Ontario
According to RAMQ data compiled by Radio-Canada, over the past five years, nearly a billion dollars have been paid to Ontario for health care provided to patients in Quebec.
From 2017 to 2021, 92,000 Quebecers on average received hospital care in Ontario.
Approximately $165 million was paid out each year for medical supplies (dressings, fluids, drugs, etc.), hospital accommodation, blood tests, tests, nurses’ salaries, etc. Hospital services are reimbursed under a pan-Canadian agreement managed by the MSSS.
Patients from the Outaouais continue to be those who visit Ontario hospitals the most, but nearly 40% come from Montérégie, the Laurentians, Montreal and Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
Another amount of approximately $33 million per year is also paid for medical services. They represent the cost of the procedure billed by a doctor, whether for a general practitioner or a specialist. Medical services are reimbursed up to their cost in Quebec, according to the MSSS/FMOQ and MSSS/FMSQ agreements.
The Laurentians too
During our visit to the Hawkesbury hospital, nearly half of the vehicles displayed Quebec license plates.
Sylvie Galipeau from Harrington, in the Laurentians, goes there regularly.
Me, I had cancer, I had a lot of cases and the service here is not the same, not at all [...]. Really, this is my hospitalexplains Ms. Galipeau.
Longer delays in hospitals in Quebec convinced her to seek treatment in the neighboring province.
Other residents of Harrington also prefer to go to Ontario rather than to the hospital in Lachute or Saint-Jérôme.
Councilor Richard Francoeur has experienced this.
Ultrasound, x-ray, scanner... We go to Ontario because the appointments are much fasterhe said.
According to the latter, it could take six months in Saint-Jérôme and there [en Ontario]it takes two or three weeks to get the appointment, so we are lucky, we have access to both.
A retired couple, William and Lynn Horrocks, also prefer to go to Hawkesbury, a thirty-minute drive from their home.
When their family doctor in Quebec told them he was retiring, they found another in Ontario. And if we have to go to the hospital in Hawkesbury urgently, we can wait a few hours, but it's not like here in the region, where you could spend 12 hours in the waiting room. We have already experienced this at Sainte-Agathe hospitalsays Horrocks.
Fewer Ontarians in Quebec
According to information obtained by Radio-Canada from the Ontario Ministry of Health, far fewer Ontarians cross into Quebec to obtain health care than the reverse.
Over the past five years, less than 10,000 Ontarians have sought treatment in Quebec, at a total cost of $121 million.
With the collaboration of Denis Babin
Source: Radio-Canada
