Quebec backtracks on health-care deductible

The Quebec government appeared Friday to be backing away from a proposal to charge a deductible for doctor visits.

The provincefirst proposed studying the idea of levying a $25 per visit fee in its March budget.

The idea was to provide additional funding for the province's financially strapped health-care system and to make Quebecers more aware of the costs involved.

Thisweek, Finance Minister Raymond Bachand denied that was ever an option.

"It is out of the question to ask people to pay $25 to see a doctor," Bachand told reporters.

On Friday, Health Minister Yves Bolduc confirmed the government is reconsidering its strategy.

"The health-care deductible that was planned cannot take the form that was expected," Bolduc told reporters.

The plan had been criticized by community groups and some health-care professionals who said it would penalize the sick and those with low incomes.

On Monday, a public opinion survey suggested 72 per cent of Quebecers were opposed to the idea of a doctor-visit fee.

The government's apparent reversal of position comes as opposition parties called on members of the Liberal government to back a private member's bill that would ban the introduction of such a fee.

"Thinking about it is not enough, we need to make sure that they actually say we're going to abandon this proposal," said Parti Qubcois health critic Bernard Drainville.

Health care is one of the issues the PQ will be debating at a party meeting this weekend in Drummondville.