Understanding Health Care
About this Section
We have introduced this section of the web site in an effort to improve
access to MRG information that might help visitors better
understand the health care system in Canada. Information from
a variety of sources is organized under seven Information Categories.
Links to those categories are on the right hand menu.
Health care systems are, by their nature,
complex. The Canadian health care system is no exception. We
have mixed systems of funding (largely public funding for physician
and hospital services; mixed private and public for other services
including drugs, home care, dental care, eye care, etc.); mixed systems
of delivery (private not-for-profit hospitals; small business model
of physician services; multinational investor-owned for-profit companies
for drugs); and mixed systems of administration (public administration
of physician and hospital services; mixed public and private insurance
administration in other areas).
As in every other health system in the
world, Canadian health care faces enormous challenges. Pressures
of increasing demand include the public's desire for availability
of high quality care, demand for resources from health care providers
and increasing technological sophistication. At the same time, there
is a limited amount that the public is willing to pay for health care
either in taxes or privately. How to best meet public expectations
in a world of resource constraints remains a source of intense debate.
This section of the MRG website is designed
to inform you about current issues in health care delivery
in Canada. The material you find here is consistent with the MRG’s
health care philosophy. As a result, most if not all documents
start from the position that all Canadians are entitled to high quality
health care irrespective of ability to pay. Further, most have as an
underlying assumption that we should take a broader view of health
than health care alone, and acknowledge social, political, and economic
factors that determine who is healthy, and who is not.
The links at the right will take you to
documents written by MRG members and endorsed by the group,
other documents that we think are particularly informative, and
links to other valuable websites and resources. You will find
the Romanow Commission report, likely to be a very valuable source
of information for many years to come. MRG steering committee member
Gordon Guyatt produces a bi-monthly column for the online news
service Straight Goods, the Hamilton Spectator and the Winnipeg Free
Press. These columns provide bite-sized chunks of information about
health care controversies, and are designed to provide the background
information needed to become adequately informed. You will also find
key articles from "Medical Reform", the Medical Reform Group's newsletter
(you can also obtain a pdf copy of the entire newsletter), addressing
the most current issues. Original articles from the medical literature,
and reports prepared by faculty in university settings, or researchers
and scholars working for private foundations, provide an academic orientation
to both evidence and analysis.
Whether you are hoping to gain a general
background, or to find information regarding a specific topic,
this section of our website will help address your need for
both evidence and analysis. If what you are looking for is not on
our website, don’t hesitate to email Janet Maher at medicalreform@sympatico.ca.
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