Summary
A generation ago, universal single-payer health care was on the cutting edge of policy. Today, it has become clear that this way lies disaster, and significant changes are needed if Canada's health system is to keep functioning. It's fitting, then, that Claude Castonguay, a former Quebec health minister known as a "father of medicare," is leading the charge toward health policy reform today.
Another crucial component of the report is the emphasis placed on the citizen within the health care system. The health care consumer, the report states, "must also contribute to the system's funding according to his means, and in accordance with his consumption of care." While this sounds revolutionary to some Canadians, trained to perceive health care as free because they pay nothing for it at the point of consumption, it is in fact consistent both with the best performing health care systems elsewhere, and with the principle of individual responsibility.The Castonguay report liberates the debate from the orthodoxy of the Canada Health Act and suggests evidence-based changes that have been proven elsewhere. If health ministers elsewhere pay attention, Claude Castonguay may be remembered not only as a father of medicare but also as one of its rescuers.See the full content of this document
Extract
Castonguay Liberates Health Care
Rebecca Walberg
A generation ago, universal single-payer health care was on the cutting edge of policy. Today, it has become clear that this way lies disaster, and significant changes are needed if Canada's health system is to keep functioning. It's fitting, ...See the full content of this document
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