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History of Medicare in Canada

By anosko

  • First medical school in Canada was established in 1825 in Montreal

  • Upper Canada (Ontario) established a board of health

  • Lower Canada (now Quebec) established a board of health

  •  Voluntary organizations, such as the Order of St. John founded

  • William Kelly determined that sanitation and disease are related and that water may be a source of contamination

  • British North America Act resulted in the Dominion of Canada

  • First school of nursing was established in St. Catharines, Ontario

  • Department of Health was created (in wake of the 1918 Spanish flu)

    It was renamed the Department of National Health and Welfare in 1944 and to Health Canada in the late 1990s.

  •  The Hospital Insurance Act was passed by the government of Saskatchewan

  • The Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act

    Under this act, provinces and territories with a health insurance plan would have funding matched by the federal government by 50 cents for every dollar

  • Saskatchewan’s NDP government introduces first public health care program

    Doctors walk out but the strike collapses after 3 weeks

  •  The Hall Report

    This report described free health care as an economic investment in the country; healthy people meant a healthy economy

  • Medical Care Act came into effect

    Ottawa now paid 50% of provincial health costs. Prior to this point, doctors charged whatever they wanted and bankruptcy to pay for health care was common. Now citizens would receive portable, comprehensive and universal access to necessary physician and hospital services, regardless of ability to pay.

  • – Trudeau Liberals retreated from 50:50 cost-sharing and replaced it with block funding

  • Doctors began “extra-billing” to raise their incomes

  • Canada Health Act was introduced

    Extra-billing was banned. The act allowed the federal government to deduct one dollar from federal transfers to any province for every dollar of direct patient charges in that province, and ended user-fees for insured physicians and hospital services.

  • The Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) was introduced

    This caused massive cuts in transfer payments to health and social programs. Health Care spending dropped from 10.2% (in 1992) to 9.2% of GDP.

  • Ralph Klein introduced legislation to allow private hospitals in Alberta

  • The Kirby report was produced

  • The Romanow report was released

  • The Health Accord was created in the wake of Romanow’s recommendations

  • The Health Accord came to an end

    This was not renewed by Harper’s Conservative government.