This blog was written by AMS Healthcare History of Medicine and Healthcare Program 2020 project grant recipient Catherine Carstairs and her colleagues from the University of Guelph. It very nicely supports the AMS Healthcare concept that History of Medicine research can and does act as a source of lessons that shape or inform the Canadian…

Learn how professional historians can help policy makers make better decisions when they’re reforming universal healthcare programs. The author also shares the skills and competencies that professional historians need to meaningfully contribute to developing better health systems and policies.

This paper discusses four areas where Canada might learn from Australia in order to expand its medicare program. You’ll also learn about aspects of the Australian healthcare system that Canada should avoid.

Learn about competition as it relates to healthcare in the United Kingdom. Understand the impact of health policy reforms on the quality, productivity, and distribution of healthcare resources across socio-economic groups.

This paper takes the 70th Anniversary of the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom as an opportunity to reflect upon the strategic direction of nursing policy and the extent to which nurses can realise their potential as change agents in building a better future for health care. As published in Health Economics, Policy…

Income and wealth inequality have risen in Canada since its low point in the 1980s. Over that same period we have also seen an increase in the amount that Canadians spend on privately financed health care, both directly and through private health insurance. As published in Health Economics, Policy and Law Volume 13, Special Issue…

Policy makers like the idea of new initiatives and fresh starts, unencumbered by, even actively overthrowing, what has been done in the past. At the same time, history can be pigeonholed as fusty and antiquarian, dealing with long past events of no relevance to the present. As published in Health Economics, Policy and Law Volume…

Medicare). The CHA provides for the federal transfer of funding to the provinces/territories, in exchange for provincial/territorial adherence to Medicare’s key principles of universality; comprehensiveness; portability; accessibility; and, public administration. Medicare is a decentralized health care system, managed independently by Canada’s 10 provincial and three territorial governments, allowing for regional adaptations to fit varying degrees…

This special volume reflects on how history can help us better understand current policy problems in Canadian medicare.

In September 2016, a case went to trial in British Columbia that sought to test the constitutionality of certain healthcare-related provincial laws. In September of 2020, the challenge was struck down. Colleen Flood’s paper—written before the court’s ruling—will help you understand the legal and policy options available to Canadian lawmakers who may want to limit two-tiered healthcare if a challenge to existing laws is eventually successful. It’s a clear look at an ever-present issue that links Canadian healthcare and the judicial system.

When medicare shifted mental health care into outpatient psychiatric wings, it arguably improved care for many who could now get help without enduring long-stay institutionalizations. But patients were increasingly expected to take responsibility for their own health care plans, which presented challenges that persist today. In this paper, Erika Dyck examines the tradeoffs and considers historical lessons that can contribute to today’s discussions on public policy and mental health care.

Canada is the only country with a broad public health system that does not include universal, nationwide coverage for pharmaceuticals. This omission causes real hardship to those Canadians who are not well-served by the existing patchwork of limited provincial plans and private insurance. It also represents significant forgone benefits in terms of governments’ ability to…

Learn about the small, physician-led organizations that have supported Canadian medicare over the years. Understand their common characteristics and see how physicians might become better stewards of this important program in the future.

This article covers seven strategies that Israel uses to manage the costs of its national pharmaceutical program. Canada has much to learn from Israel if it hopes to expand Canadian medicare to include a pharmaceutical benefit for everyone.

Health systems have repeatedly addressed concerns about efficiency and equity by employing trans-national comparisons to draw out the strengths and weaknesses of specific policy initiatives. This paper demonstrates the potential for explicit historical analysis of waiting times for hospital treatment to add value to spatial comparative methodologies. As published in Health Economics, Policy and Law…