The Canada Health Act presented a universal healthcare with all insured, comprehensiveness with insured coverage for medically necessary hospital and physician services, portability of insurance coverage for residents who move to different province or territory, public administration of the health insurance plan on a nonprofit basis by a public authority responsible to the provincial government, and accessibility to services unimpeded by charges or other means (Rakich, 1991)
Physicians and residential care facilities are by and large nongovernmental entities and the hospital sector is composed of facilities operated by local and provincial governments (Johnson & Stoskopf, 2010). The Canada Health Act allows physicians to bill the government for services. Canada's provinces oversee their own healthcare, but the federal government regulates all of the healthcare system. With all of the provinces overseeing the healthcare, this has caused much political differences between the provinces and federal government. .
Canada's healthcare system is funded by taxes. The federal government makes cash transfers to the provinces, but the provinces may levy their own taxes to help defray the cost (Irvine, Ferguson, & Cackett, 2005). The universal healthcare is funded through taxes but ran privately. British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario charge premiums to help with funding, but provinces are not required through the Canada Health Act (Canadian Healthcare, 2007). At a federal level, funds are allocated to provinces and territories via the Canadian Health and Social Transfer (CHST) (Canadian Healthcare, 2007). Citizens of Canada cannot purchase private health insurance except for vision, dental, and pharmacy, which is usually provided by an employer. .
Canada has faced some problems with the rising cost of healthcare through the years. In 2007, the healthcare expenditures was 10.6% of the nation's GDP (Johnson & Stoskopf, 2010).
