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Making Medicare

New Perspectives on the History of Medicare in Canada

By (author) Gregory Marchildon
Categories: History of the Americas, History, History and Archaeology, Canada, North America (USA and Canada), The Americas, Place qualifiers
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Paperback : 9781442613454, 336 pages, November 2012
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Table of contents

Preface and Acknowledgements
Gregory P. Marchildon (The University of Regina)

  1. Canadian Medicare: Why History Matters
    Gregory P. Marchildon

Part One: National History of Medicare

  1. The Foundations of National Public Hospital Insurance
    Aleck Ostry (University of Victoria)
  2. Into Thin Air: Making National Health Policy, 1939-45
    Heather MacDougall (University of Waterloo)
  3. The Liberal Party and the Achievement of National Medicare
    P. E. Bryden (University of Victoria)
  4. After Medicare: Regionalization and Canadian Health Care Reform
    Terry Boychuk (Macalester College)

Part Two: Individual Provincial Histories of Medicare

  1. Four Precursors of Medicare in Saskatchewan
    C. Stuart Houston and Merle Massie (University of Saskatchewan)
  2. The Road Not Taken: The 1945 Health Services Planning Commission Proposals and Physician Remuneration in Saskatchewan
    Gordon S. Lawson (Public Works and Government Services Canada)
  3. The Hoadley Commission (1932-34) and Health Insurance in Alberta
    Robert Lampard (University of Alberta)
  4. From Bennettcare to Medicare: The Morphing of Medical Care Insurance in British Columbia
    Gregory P. Marchildon and Nicole C. O'Byrne (University of New Brunswick)
  5. Newfoundland's Cottage Hospital System, 1920-1970
    Gordon S. Lawson and Andrew F. Noseworthy (Former Deputy Clerk and Associate Secretary to Cabinet, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador)
  6. The State and For-Profit Hospitals in Quebec, 1961-1975
    Aline Charles (Université Laval) and François Guérard (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi)

Part Three: Other Perspectives

  1. The Struggle to Implement Medicare
    Allan Blakeney (former Premier of Saskatchewan)
  2. Working for Medicare
    Betsy Bury (Saskatoon Community Clinic)
  3. A Physician on the Front Line of Medicare
    John Bury
  4. My Experience in the Medicare Battle and the Woods Commission
    Roy Romanow (former Premier of Saskatchewan)
  5. A Brief Retrospective on the Royal Commission on Health Services
    Jack Boan (University of Regina)
  6. Political Cartoonists Respond to Medicare
    Felicity Pope

Conclusion

  1. A New Prescription: Adding Historical Analysis to Health Policy
    Heather MacDougall (University of Waterloo)

Description

The Canadian health care system is so indisputably tied to our national identity that its founder, Tommy Douglas, was voted the greatest Canadian of all time in a CBC television contest. However, very little has been written to date on how Medicare as we know it was developed and implemented. This collection fills a serious gap in the existing literature by providing a comprehensive policy history of Medicare in Canada. Making Medicare features explorations of the experiments that predated the federal government’s decision to implement the Saskatchewan health care model, from Newfoundland’s cottage hospital system to Bennettcare in British Columbia. It also includes essays by key individuals (including health practitioners and two premiers) who played a role in the implementation of Medicare and the landmark Royal Commission on Health Services. Along with political scientists, policy specialists, medical historians, and health practitioners, this collection will appeal to anyone interested in the history and legacy of one of Canada’s most visible and centrally important institutions.

Reviews

"Making Medicare fills a void [in the history of Canadian medicine]. Contributors in a series of essays recount the Canadian struggle for public health insurance. The result is insightful and surprising – like the story of the "cottage hospitals" of Newfoundland & Labrador. "

- Holly Doan