Canadian Public Administration: Healthcare System

Canadian Public Administration: Healthcare System

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to expand the boundaries of our knowledge by exploring some relevant facts and facts relating to an area of Canadian Public Administration. In this paper, the author will discuss Canadian Health care system (one of the most important areas of Canadian Public Administration) and examine the effect of health reform i.e. How has the New Public Management affected this area of the public sector. Canada's national health insurance system has evolved over the past six decades. Saskatchewan was the first province to establish universal, public hospital insurance in 1947. By 1961, all the country's provinces and territories had established public insurance plans that provided universal access without user fees for hospital services. By 1972, the plans were extended to include physician services. Over the years, various laws were passed, including the Canada Health Act in 1985 (Soroka, 2007).

Discussion & Analysis

Canada has a federal system of government with powers divided between the central government in Ottawa and the 10 provinces and 3 territories. The Constitution of 1982 (which reflects and confirms principles of the British North America Act of 1867) assigns responsibility for most health coverage to the provinces. The federal government has direct responsibility for Aboriginal people, the armed forces, and members of Parliament, and is co-responsible for funding the public system (hospitals and physicians). In other words, the role of central government is providing funds for the provinces to fulfill their constitutional obligation (1). It is prohibited to offer private coverage contracts for these services (Shah, 2003).

The Canadian health system is structured based on a constitutional mandate by which the state must ensure 100% coverage of medical and hospital services, based on the principles of universality, accessibility, comprehensiveness, portability and public administration. This system was considered for decades as one of the "jewels" of the social program in Canada. Started in the 50's, the achievements of this system (called "Medicare") impress much higher than the fragmented U.S. health care system that has failed to meet the five principles mentioned, despite a much higher cost (U $ S 4,000 per capita annually in the U.S., versus U $ S 1,900 in Canada). Canada ranked seventh in a recent ranking of 192 countries compiled the World Health Organization (WHO Health 2000), based on performance indicators, while the U.S. stood at number 27 - despite winning first place in spending per capita (Sawyer, 2006).

Although 70% of health in Canada has public funding (federal and provincial), almost all of the services are provided by the private sector. Most hospitals belong to non-profit associations. Most physicians without an academic affiliation are engaged in private practice, in the form of "pay for performance". Physicians may choose to exercise their profession in the public system or only in private practice, retiring from the provincial systems / federal. In some provinces, however, allows the performance in both systems (Sanmartin, 2006).

The website of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) describes the health care ...