Understanding the Boundaries of Medicare and the Canada Health Act

While almost all universal health coverage in Canada is provided under the Canada Health Act, there is Medicare-like coverage that is provided outside of the act. Based on a newly published book, this presentation explores health care services and coverage arrangements that predate or have developed alongside the Canada Health Act. There are parallel arrangements for workers’ compensation beneficiaries, military personnel, inmates in federal prisons, and certain classes of migrants. There are also border-spanning services for Indigenous health, one of the least understood areas. Finally, the dramatic increase in virtual health care services since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and their relationship to the Canada Health Act is examined.

The Boundaries of Medicare: Public Health Care Beyond the Canada Health Act is co-authored
by Katherine Fierlbeck (Dalhousie University) and Gregory P. Marchildon and is published by
McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Gregory P. Marchildon is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto and the founding director of the North American Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. He has written extensively on twentieth-century Canadian history and contemporary public policy including comparative health politics and policy. He is currently completing a book on the history of Medicare. A member of the Order of Canada and a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, he is an avid canoeist, cyclist, and podcaster.