Information about the Organization of the Canadian Health System

The 5 principles that the Canadian Health Act was built on help me to understand the way our health system is organized. These five principles are as follows:

· Pubic Administration: Provincial/territorial health services must be delivered on a not for profit basis by an appointed public authority who reports to the provincial or territorial government (Government of Canada (GOC), 2018).

· Comprehensiveness: The provincial/territorial health service plans must cover all essential medical services delivered inside of a hospital by physicians, dentists and other medical practitioners (GOC, 2018).

· Universality: The terms and conditions for which a person’s health services are insured by provincial/territorial plans, must be uniform (GOC, 2018).

· Accessibility: The provincial/territorial medical plans must allow insured people reasonable access to medical services without financial, or other obstructions (GOC, 2018).

· Portability: The provincial/territorial health service plans must cover medical services when an insured person moves from province to province, and when they travel abroad. There must be some limits for coverage outside of Canada, especially for non-emergent procedures (GOC, 2018).

Provincial and territorial governments are given federal cash and tax transfers to fund these services (GOC, 2018). Services that are medically necessary must be defined with the help of physician groups and colleges (GOC, 2018). If it is deemed by a physician college that a procedure is medically necessary, then it is a health service that must be insured by provincial or territorial governments (GOC, 2018). This means it must be paid for in full through health insurance plans funded by the government (GOC, 2018).

Some of the roles included under Provincial and Territorial governments are the following:

· Planning and financially supporting care inside of hospitals, including services provided by doctors and other health professionals (GOC, 2018).

· Administering health insurance plans (GOC, 2018).

· Bargaining and negotiating fee schedules for health professionals (GOC, 2018).

· Organizing and implementing public health initiatives and health promotion (GOC, 2018).

Provincial and Territorial governments must report to the minister of health annually regarding user fees and extra-billing, so that compliance with the Canada Health Act can be monitored (Council of Canadians, n.d.). Provincial or Territorial governments can also be involved with creating supplemental plans for health care outside of hospitals (GOC, 2018). For example, they may develop programs for low-income groups to help pay for medication or ambulance services (GOC, 2018). In addition to these, every province has an agency independent of health authorities, responsible for funding medical services to people who are injured at work (GOC, 2018).

References

Council of Canadians. (n.d.). Understanding the Canada Health Act. Retrieved from https://canadians.org/sites/default/files/publications/CHA%20Feb%202010.pdf

Government of Canada. (February 26, 2018). Canada’s Health Care System. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-care-system/reports-publications/health-care-system/canada.html