Quebecers against fee for MD visits: poll

Awide majority of Quebecersis opposed to the province's proposeddeductible for doctor visits, a poll published on Monday suggests.

Seventy-two per cent of Quebecers are opposed to the idea of instituting a fee of $25 per visit to a doctor, according to the results of the Lger Marketing poll published in the Le Devoir newspaper.

The province is studying the measure, which was proposed by Finance Minister Raymond Bachand in the provincial budget tabled in March.

The budget, which also introduced a $25 annual health fee that will rise to $200 by 2012, has been denounced by unions and community groups, who say it will punish the sick and hit the province's low-income families the hardest.

The measures are aimed at providing additional funding for the province's financially strapped health care system and making Quebecers more awareof its cost, Bachand said.

Federal intervention sought

What is most surprising about the poll is that 62 per cent of respondents said they expect the federal government to intervene to block the proposal, said pollster Christian Bourque.

Usually, Bourque said, Quebecers prefer the province to remain autonomous.

"Whether it's because they're favouring sovereignty, or because they basically support greater decentralization this is a move in the other direction that you would generally not expect," said Bourque.

In an seemingly uncharacteristic move, Bloc Qubcois Leader Gilles Duceppe is also demanding the intervention of the federal government.

"There's 10,000 civil servants in the health department in Ottawa, and they're not managing a single aspect [of the health care system], not a single one," Duceppe said."Those people should be a lot more useful within the Quebec health system."

Both federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and NDP Leader Jack Layton have said the proposeddeductible would go against the Canada Health Act.

So far, the Harper government has remained mum on the question.