Chapter 2 - The Canadian Health Care System Flashcards
1
Q
Canada’s Health Care System
A
- Canada’s national heath insurance system (medicare) ensures that all Canadians have access to quality health care
- Uses provincial or territorial and federal taxes to pay for care
- Support workers have an increasingly important role within Canada’s changing health care system
2
Q
Evolution of Canadian Health Care
A
- Originally, individuals paid their own hospital or doctor bills
- If they could not afford to pay – they went to charity organizations (e.g., VON, Red Cross)
- Great Depression 1930s – many ill and disabled people depended on a family member because they couldn’t afford care
- 1947 – Saskatchewan had the first public insurance plan covering hospital services
- 1961 – ten provinces and two territories agreed to provide in-patient hospital care: costs were split between federal and provincial governments
- 1972 – insurance extended to cover medical services outside hospital
3
Q
Modern Health Care System:Federal Role
A
- Responsibility for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples’ health is shared by federal, provincial and territorial governments.
- Deliver health care to people living on reserves, members of the Canadian Forces and the RCMP, veterans, and inmates of federal jails
- Develop and carry out government policy and programs that promote health and prevent disease
- Transfer tax money to provinces and territories to share costs of medical care
- Box 2-2 outlines five principles that must be met in order for provinces and territories to qualify for federal money:
Public Administration
Comprehensiveness
Universality
Portability
Accessibility
- Canada Health Act 1984 clarifies the types of health care services that are insured
4
Q
Health Care Reform
A
There are many challenges to the country’s ability to provide quality universal health care:
- Rural or remote areas face severe shortages of physicians, nurses and other health care workers
- Long waitlists for surgeries and diagnostic tests - High prices for drugs and technology
5
Q
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Health Care Delivery
A
- Primary: first point of contact with the health care system
- Secondary: assessment, diagnosis, treatment and preventative services associated with more complex medical issues
- Tertiary: specialized, highly technical level of health care; most costly level of health care
6
Q
Health Care Challenges
A
- Worker shortages
- Aging population
- Long waiting lists
- Increasing cost of care
7
Q
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
A
- Preventing illness and injury
- Health promotion: strategies that improve or maintain health and independence
- Disease prevention: strategies that prevent the occurrence of disease or injury
8
Q
Home Care
A
- Established partly to save money and partly as a result of technological advances (patients are sent home sooner following hospital procedures)
- Home care is health care and support services provided to people in their places of residence
- Most common community-based services
- Publicly funded home care programs are available
- Support workers provide most support services for home care
> Box 2-3: How Home Care is Governed and Delivered (p. 29)
9
Q
Home Care Services
A
- Personal care services
- Home support services
- Nursing and professional services
