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Health Coop of Cantley: Annual fees are creating anxiety

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News, Tuesday, December 22, 2009, p. 4

Duquette, Patrick

The new cooperative health Cantley barely opens its doors it already immersed in the heart of a controversy because of the annual fee imposed on its patients.

Installed in a rectory, at 47, chemin Sainte-Elizabeth, the cooperative health opens once a week on Wednesday, and already has 1200 members.

To be a member must pay a share of $ 50, plus $ 50 annual fee to cover the costs of heating, electricity, telephone and others.

The imposition of such annual fee annoys the Health Minister Yves Bolduc, who sees a threat to the principle of universal care.

Already in 2008, the Minister had expressed some concerns at the opening of a new cooperative health family on the boulevard Greber, Gatineau, where the fee of $ 100 gave priority access to a doctor.

Since then, the Charest government has thought to prohibit the imposition of annual fees in the health cooperatives. "This should not be a contribution that provides access to a doctor or not," says Marie-Eve Bédard, Bolduc minister's office.

The current legislative framework does not allow the Department to verify what he is really on the ground, she acknowledges. "What happens to people who do not pay? Is it that people who are not members may have access to the same doctor as those who are members? "

The president of the cooperative health Cantley, Claude Hébert, is adamant about this." At the clinic, people come in, whether members or not members. But for members, we are doing all kinds of special arrangements. "

M. Hebert ensures that it will be possible for anyone to consult a physician for all health care reimbursed by the Quebec medicare medical examinations, drug prescriptions, or references to specialists.

Privileges members will receive more access to conferences Diabetes and healthy eating, for example. "We follow the letter of the law that says it all for the general public," said Claude Hebert.

It took two years on the board of directors of the new cooperative health Cantley to recruit 1200 members and convince a retired doctor, the DrBernard Gelinas, to come and hold consultations once a week, every Wednesday . The

DrGélinas see all patients who present members and non members, said Claude Hebert, depending on a first come, first served.

For now, the cooperative has installed on the ground floor of a former rectory. The cooperative expects to recruit other physicians and move next summer, in a new commercial building near City Hall on Highway 307. As the cooperative will soar, some slots will be reserved exclusively for members.

"At the Aylmer Health Co-op in the afternoon, the beaches are accessible only to members who have emergencies. But the morning's first come, first served. You look at that model "Hebert said.

At the Ministry of Health, we are assured not to be against the emergence of increasingly frequent health cooperatives. "It's frankly a model against which there is no cons. Where there is a problem is when we decrease the accessibility of care compared to a load that is required," said MmeBédard.

Pduquette@ledroit.com