The Emergence of Universal Medicare

        Tommy Douglas, the father of socialized medicine made the first provincial health care of legislation from the years of 1944 to 1961. In Canada, most provinces and territories were supporters of “single tier” health care. Single tier health care is what Tommy Douglas opposed of and in the year of 1962, the creation of universal Medicare was born. The first Canadian province to introduce universal health coverage was Saskatchewan in 1946.

        In the year 1946, Canada introduced near universal health coverage. Saskatchewan being one of the first provinces, had suffered from a shortage of doctors therefore, helping Tommy Douglas in creating universal Medicare. In 1961, the government offered free access to physician services to all Canadian citizens however Saskatchewan responded differently. The doctors of Saskatchewan went on strike because they did not like the idea of having universal Medicare insurance. The Saskatchewan Doctor’s Strike happened on July 1, 1962 when the Saskatchewan Medicare Care Insurance Act happened. This strike proved to Canada with its medical care services significantly. This strike helped the rest of Canada adopt what had happened in Saskatchewan by learning from its mistakes. However, even though the Liberal party at the time highly opposed of it, universal Medicare became even more popular.

        One way which universal Medicare became popular was with the aiding help of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.  He managed to bring major social programs such as universal health care while accompanying Tommy Douglas in his creation of Medicare. Lester B. Pearson had accomplished such a variety of goals in a short period of time. Lester B. Pearson was also known as one of the ‘Fathers of Medicare’ as well did Tommy Douglas. These two men introduced hospital and out-of-hospital treatment on a national basis and to provide it throughout Canada. Lester B. Pearson was the future aid for Tommy Douglas because he was the current Prime Minister as well as helped Medicare become into a national entity.

        With Tommy Douglas and Lester B. Pearson creating universal Medicare for all of Canada, many controversies happened during the creation of Medicare. Even though universal Medicare is one of Canada’s most defining attribute, it has become a controversy between politicians. The Health Council of Canada has said that “Herein lies one of the puzzles of Canadian health care: Canadians increasingly view the health care system as unsustainable and under threat, even as their own experiences with the system are mostly positive.” This quotation portrays the fact that Canadian citizens view the health care system as unsustainable because of federal government going into a deficit. The federal government on the other hand is slowly recovering and reinvesting in health care due to the numbers of doctors being trained.

Universal health care in Canada is a controversy topic between politicians because of regulatory-hospital-based quality assurance and the economy. These two issues are related to each other because it doesn’t allow certain doctors operate a private clinic on their own and earning the additional costs for running a surgical facility from their fees as well. Even though, Canadian citizens are fully insured, the topic of how universal Medicare is either a bad or good idea, has become less of an issue now.

Since, universal Medicare had become more of a controversy topic than a succession topic; Canada implemented several acts to help the emergence of universal Medicare. In 1957, the Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act was created for the federal government to pay about half of the costs for provincial hospital insurance plans. After four years, all of Canada had public hospital insurance plans due to the act.

During the years 1951 and 1959, the Blind Persons Act and the Disabled Persons Act were created. With these two acts, Canada was able to provide allowanced to blind and handicapped people. These allowances were supported by the persons’ conditions and not desires. The Medical Care Act was introduced by the federal government and provinces in 1966. They shared the costs to provide universal health care through medical clinics and hospitals. With these acts to help provide Canadian citizens with universal Medicare, Canada has helped reflect Canadian values as well.

        Even though, universal Medicare in Canada truly reflects Canadian values, it is now facing several of challenges. Many Canadian citizens find universal Medicare a benefit however the federal government is now going into difficulties. With these several challenges that they are facing, the health care system is slowly going down making Canadian citizens think twice about how universal Medicare is a defining attribute. The system is now going into a deficit and many Canadians are viewing universal Medicare as unsustainable due to the larger population of seniors and rising costs.

        With these two issues falling into place, our health care system seems inefficient. It seems inefficient now due to the rising costs and because of bureaucracy, the federal government will be bogged down. Due to the rising costs, everyone has to pay higher taxes to help implement universal Medicare. Since Canadian citizens are paying higher taxes for our health care insurance they would expect to receive fast medical services. However, in Canada this is not the case because of our population size. The health care system in Canada is big enough to only help a certain amount of people. Since, Canada is now growing; the medical system is however, not at the same rate as our population growth.

        These challenges that we are now facing with our universal Medicare, many Canadians are viewing the health care as a con instead of pro. Due to the long waits, not receiving better quality, making it accessible to others that do not need it are some topics which Canadian citizens are furious about. One major attribute however which truly reflects our Canadian values are how it is accessible to everybody and you are fully insured due to it.

This controversy topic has been debatable topic for several of years now however; Canada has stuck to universal Medicare and made sure that it is accessible to everyone. Even though it is facing several of challenges, the federal government and provinces are trying to get out of their deficit to help Canadian citizens get the most means out of their health care system. By fixing the health care system, Canada will once again benefit from their health care system.

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