Library

Medicare has two meanings for Canadians: the entire range of health care services, or only those (mainly physicians and hospitals) mandated and governed by the Canada Health Act (CHA). This paper focuses on the narrower legal meaning of Medicare, as does the recent Alberta proposal to fund CHA-mandated services delivered on an overnight stay basis in privately owned and operated facilities. Nevertheless there is considerable confusion in the minds of the public, and concerns about access to or private costs of other health care services (e.g. home care and pharmaceuticals) may create a pervasive anxiety about the health care system overall that then generates concerns about the sustainability of the narrower core of physicians and hospitals.