Reply #40: absolootely [View All]

[iverglas]

I think the road from where you are to a universal scheme is going to be a long one. And in fact it was for us. It started in one province (Kiefer Sutherland's grandpa, Tommy Douglas, "father of Canadian medicare", was premier of Saskatchewan and fought the doctors there -- they struck and he brought in British MDs). It started with limited coverage -- hospital only. A couple of decades later a national scheme covering all medical care in all provinces was adopted. It was another couple of decades before "extra billing" (co-pays) was banned. Some 40 years all told. I certainly hope you make it a little quicker than that.

Joe Biden's thoughts (rambling as they are) seem on target to me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OgcKGWwWlE&mode=related&search=

(I've been a huge Biden fan for decades, even though I find some of his positions obnoxious and I wouldn't actually want him for my own head of govt.)

*Regulation* is the first step, as it is with every other aspect of your (and to a lesser extent our) economy. Deregulation is the source of many of your current economic woes. Health insurance has never been regulated to any reasonable degree. Biden's remarks include that -- things like not permitting insurance companies to exclude from coverage and so on.


http://www.tommydouglas.ca/tommy

Tommy Douglas: The Greatest Canadian

As Tommy Douglas said...

"I felt that no boy should have to depend either for his leg or his life upon the ability of his parents to raise enough money to bring a first-class surgeon to his bedside. And I think it was out of this experience, not at the moment consciously, but through the years, I came to believe that health services ought not to have a price tag on them, and that people should be able to get whatever health services they require irrespective of their individual capacity to pay."

Did you know...

...that Tommy's government enacted Canada's first Bill of Rights?

He was also a Baptist clergyman. Gasp. The social gospel is us, up here.


Here's what I've been looking for:

http://scaa.sk.ca/gallery/medicare/en_timeline.php

Medicare timeline - excerpts:

1944 – North America’s first social democratic government.
Act of the legislature proclaimed that residents of the province were eligible for free services relating to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

1945 – First comprehensive health plan for pensioners and widows.
Formation of the Saskatchewan Health Services Planning Commission.

1947 – First universal hospitalisation insurance program in North America.

1948 – National Health Program of Grants initiated by the federal government

1959 – Premier T.C. Douglas announces plan to introduce a prepaid medical–care program.

(This is the point at which I broke my leg and spent three months in hospital -- and my parents were very fortunate that my father had health insurance at work, because we didn't live in Saskatchewan.)

1962 – First universal Medicare in North America.

Drat, that's as far as that one goes ...

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/pubs/system-regime/2005-hcs-sss/time-chron-eng.php

1962
Saskatchewan creates medical insurance plan for physicians' services, July 1; doctors in province strike for 23 days.

... Throughout the 60s and 70s all provinces established plans, with federal cost-sharing.

1984
The Canada Health Act, federal, passes (Royal Assent April 17), combines hospital and medical acts; sets conditions and criteria on portability, accessibility, universality, comprehensiveness, public administration; bans user fees and extra billing.
Provincial/territorial reciprocal billing agreement for out-patient hospital services provided out-of province/ territory.


Throughout the late 80s and 90s the feds cut funding continually, and some provinces (e.g. Ontario under a right-wing govt) made massive cuts, closing hospitals, cutting nursing staff, etc., along with cutting welfare and the like, all in the name of tax cuts. These are the sources of what problems we do have now. It ain't the system, it's who's running it.