Canadas Declining Health Care System and the - amazonia.fiocruz.br

Canadas Declining Health Care System and the - apologise, but

Healthcare in Canada is delivered through the provincial and territorial systems of publicly funded health care , informally called Medicare. In common with many other developed countries, Canada is experiencing a cost increase due to a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In , the average age was The government guarantees the quality of care through federal standards. The government does not participate in day-to-day care or collect any information about an individual's health, which remains confidential between a person and their physician. In each province, each doctor handles the insurance claim against the provincial insurer. There is no need for the person who accesses healthcare to be involved in billing and reclaim. The Canada Health Act does not cover prescription drugs, home care or long-term care or dental care. In Ontario, for example, most prescriptions for youths under the age of 24 are covered by the Ontario health insurance plan if no private insurance plan is available. Canadas Declining Health Care System and the

Although health care is a provincial responsibility in Canada, universal hospital insurance was fully adopted by ; universal medical insurance followed 10 years later.

Publication types

Hospital insurance had wide public and provider support but universal medical care insurance was opposed by organized medicine. The federal government soon realized that it had no control Canadas Declining Health Care System and the total expenditures and no mechanisms for controlling costs. In it enacted Bill C which limited total federal contributions and made those contributions independent of provincial health care expenditures so that increased costs had to be met by the provinces. Since private health care insurance for universal benefits is prohibited by the federal terms of reference for health insurance, the provinces must raise the money by taxes and in some provinces premiums. Although prohibited by the terms of reference of the universal program, some provinces have adopted hospital user fees and are allowing their physicians to bill patients in excess of provincial fee schedules.

The s have seen increased confrontations between the federal and provincial governments and between the provinces and their providers. The issues are cost containment and control of the system. The provinces have two broad options.

Health Human Resources: Effects and Challenges for Seniors Care

The first is more private funding through private insurance and user fees. The proposed new Canada Health Act will probably prohibit such charges. A second option involves greater control and management of the system by the provinces; this has already occurred in Quebec. Greater control is vigorously opposed by physicians and hospitals.

The Canadian solution to health insurance problems in the past has been moderation. Extreme moves in either direction would represent a break with tradition, but they may prove to be unavoidable.

Abstract Although health care is a provincial responsibility in Canada, universal hospital insurance was fully adopted by ; universal medical insurance followed 10 years later. Publication types Review.]