La santé au Québec : des options pour financer la croissance

The positive social return on most health expenditure leads us to suggest a shift in Quebec to move away from attempts at restricting these outlays and towards a "growth management"" attitude. Such an attitude also proves compatible with the conclusions of the numerous public reports recently published in Canada on healthcare and healthcare funding, which often include recommendations for extending Medicare coverage. In order to materialize the proposed change, elements of solution are put forward in this paper. On the one hand, to face the upcoming population ageing and the increase in care consumption, it is suggested to emphasize fiscal prudence and a progressive payback of the public debt, as well as the ""prevention turn"" of medicine - an approach that could bring only long-term returns. On the other hand, our proposals to manage the inevitable increase in unitary costs are to 1) review all government spending and budgetary priorities on a regular basis to ensure the favouring of healthcare; 2) adopt clear economic growth-oriented policies; and 3) consider revising the coverage mode of certain interventions or categories of care, among those available both today and in the future, with a view of possibly adopting a ""mixed coverage"" scheme extended beyond the existing program for drugs."
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