Canadian Health care system

Résumé du document

The World Health Organization's guidelines define health care activity as "any output where both the major intent and effect is to improve the quantity and quality of people's lives as well as any output produced by a worker defined as a health care professional."
The Canadian health care system, which is recognized worldwide for its excellence, is characterized by its universality of access, a major principle of the Canada Health Act of 1984, involving that each resident can receive health care, regardless of its ability to pay. Nowadays, this public system is experiencing a "revolution" in the way it views and delivers health care, as well as a wide reorganization which will have profound implications for Canadian families and communities.
This paper will aim at showing the interest of this current topic ; We will define the organization, structure and financing of the system by showing the importance of the Canada Health Act. Then, we will look into the difficulties experienced by the federal government today and the new concepts which are emerging to maintain the system equal to all...

Extraits

[...] Will Canadian families be faced with different provincial health care systems as well as inter-regional differences within provinces? Anyway the answers to these questions will have profound implications for Canadian families. Moreover, it is also argued that if the Canada Health Act ensures the universality of access to health care, it doesn't guarantee the access to conditions which lead to well-being, such as economical status, age, job or ethnical heritage - The emergence of new concepts to maintain the system equal to all a ) The methods of health promotion Facing the lack of actual improvement of health state in Canada, health policy has had to be revised. [...]

[...] The objective was also to provide the provinces with more scope concerning the distribution of funds in health, but also in high education and welfare : First national Forum on Health Report The first Forum report, which was issued in February 1997, argued that the present system should be largely retained. It affirmed that sufficient financial resources were devoted to health. However, the Forum added that these could be used more efficiently and effectively. It paid particular importance to improving the children's health. In response, new initiatives in delivering health care were facilitated, including information systems and community action programs for children. [...]

[...] b ) Administration In Canada, the health-insurance system is administered in each province by a non-profit-making public organization which accounts for its activity to the provincial government. The provincial governments determine the increases in hospitals‘ budgets and in doctors‘ fees and they control the acquisition of big equipments. Most of the doctors who work in hospitals are salaried doctors and most of hospitals receive their funds in accordance with a global budgetary system negotiated with the provincial government. On the whole, the government is the only payer for all the insured health services - Financing and organization The Constitution of 1867 confers on the federal government the power to acquire financial resources through taxes and borrowings and to spend this money as it thinks best in any field, providing that the laws allowing these expenditures don't affect the provincial jurisdiction. [...]

[...] The Canadian health insurance system is facing a major restructuring. It seems that Canadians must decide if they will have one national health insurance system or ten distinct. If present trends continue, some argue that the credibility of the management role of the federal government (the only government which can establish and enforce a national standard) will be challenged. The provinces, which are now financing an increasing share of their health care costs, are looking for reforms that will meet the objectives of cost control, cost reduction and productivity improvement. [...]

[...] The provinces may choose how to finance their share of the cost of health care services. For example, Alberta and British Columbia impose premiums with assistance for those in need and, in Alberta, for elderly persons. The other provinces pay for the cost from general revenue. Apart from the statutory health-care benefits provided through provincial health insurance plans, additional benefits are available at the discretion of the individual provincial governments. In fact, the benefits may include the services of osteopaths, psychologists and dentists - Canada's health care costs First, we can say that Canada devotes a high proportion of its national wealth to health-care. [...]