cover image Insuring National Health Care: The Canadian Experience

Insuring National Health Care: The Canadian Experience

Malcolm G. Taylor. University of North Carolina Press, $29.95 (254pp) ISBN 978-0-8078-1934-0

Taylor, who has served as an adviser to the Canadian government on health-care services, chronicles the development of that country's national health insurance program over the course of 50 years. He examines the sometimes conflicting needs of provincial and federal governments, which resulted in the initial failure to institute a plan after WW II, and the role of national insurance as a ``political football.p. 132 '' The efforts of such determined politicians as Ian Mackenzie and Paul Martin to forge a national policy are explored, as is the attempt of the Canadian Medical Association to influence the shape of the plan132, 136 . Taylor also gives an overview of the system's hospital and medical insurance programs and analyzes the obstacles that Canadians will face in the future--including the difficulties of cost containment in light of an aging population, increasingly expensive medical technology and a physician surplus--and the possibilities for growth, such as the potential impact of HMOs as a new form of health-care delivery. This detailed and well-documented study of the Canadian program will be a valuable reference for those interested in a national health insurance program for the United States. (Jan.)