While Canadians strive to build a strong and united country, medicare, fundamental to the strength of its citizens, is at risk of being a squandered inheritance.

Medicare includes insurance for public hospital care and physician services. It is a single-payer system that was the most equitable and cost-effective approach to insuring health services when it was established.

In 1984, these programs were combined as the Canada Health Act to ensure services would be based on health need rather than ability to pay.

The Canada Health Act was to ensure services adhered to the principles of universality, comprehensiveness, accessibility, portability, and publicly administered. The principle of accountability, in which provincial governments are held responsible to use resources transferred from the federal government according to the financial agreement, was expected and not stated.

Medicare was built by the generations that understood hardships, economic depression, and the financial burden of paying their doctor and hospital bills. Their commitment to Canada provided the foundation for a period of unparalleled prosperity for generations. Their values drove the demand for national government funded health services.

Medicare became a national treasure, contributed to a united nation and formed a social contract that endured for decades.

During the next 40 years health needs changed and historical memory........

© Saskatoon StarPhoenix