Outaouais health underfunded by $250 million

CHRIS LOWREY
OUTAOUAIS Aug. 15, 2018
According to a recently-released study, the healthcare system in the Outaouais – everything from access to services to education – is underfunded compared to similar regions in Quebec.
The study was undertaken by Bertrand Schepper, a researcher with the institut de recherché et d’informations socioéconomiques (IRIS), which bills itself as a progressive research institute that “spreads a counter narrative to the perspectives of the economic elites.”
The study combined the five MRCs in the Outaouais: Papineau, Gatineau, Des Collines, La Vallée de la Gatineau and Pontiac.
Among the findings of the study, it found that although the Outaouais makes up 4.7 per cent of the population of Quebec, the region only gets 3.5 per cent of Quebec’s healthcare spending.
This amounts to a shortfall of around $250 million per year.
When contacted, representatives from CISSSO refused to comment on the study.
“For every dollar people in Quebec get for healthcare, the people of the Outaouais receive 75 cents,” said Schepper.
Schepper compared the Outaouais to similar regions in Quebec in terms of expenditures on social and health services, access to those servcices, the quality of the services and assistance of community groups.