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Medicare's Histories: Origins, Omissions, and Opportunities in Canada
Medicare is arguably Canada's most valued social program. As federally-supported medicare enters its second half-century, Medicare's Histories brings together leading social and health historians to reflect on the origins and evolution of medicare and the missed opportunities characterizing its past and present. Embedding medicare in the diverse constituencies that have given it existence and meaning, contributors inquire into the strengths and weaknesses of publicly insured health care and critically examine medicare's unfinished role in achieving greater health equity for all people in Canada regardless of race, status, gender, class, age, and ability.
Fundamental to the stories told in Medicare's Histories is the essential role played by communities �- of activists, critics, health professionals, First Nations, patients, families, and survivors - in driving demands for health reform, in identifying particular omissions and inequities exacerbated or even created by medicare, and in responding to the realities of medicare for those who work in and rely on it. Contributors to this volume show how medicare has been shaped by politics (in the broadest sense of that word), identities, professional organizations, and social movements in Canada and abroad.
As COVID lays bare social inequities and the inadequacies of health care delivery and public health, this book shows what was excluded and what was - and is - possible in health care.
Fundamental to the stories told in Medicare's Histories is the essential role played by communities �- of activists, critics, health professionals, First Nations, patients, families, and survivors - in driving demands for health reform, in identifying particular omissions and inequities exacerbated or even created by medicare, and in responding to the realities of medicare for those who work in and rely on it. Contributors to this volume show how medicare has been shaped by politics (in the broadest sense of that word), identities, professional organizations, and social movements in Canada and abroad.
As COVID lays bare social inequities and the inadequacies of health care delivery and public health, this book shows what was excluded and what was - and is - possible in health care.
392 pages, Paperback
Published May 27, 2022
6 people want to read
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February 18, 2026
3.5 rounded down - very much felt like I was reliving the drags of my HLTH101 and HLTH102 classes, with the exception of a couple really excellent chapters (medicare and maternity, chief complaint, becoming not a stranger). with academic texts that integrate multiple authors’ research topics and diverse writing styles, editing really matters and perhaps this could have done with more on that front.
however, a couple fun facts learned: fee-for-service payment models are particularly harmful to pregnant women (think: episiotomies), and Canadian physicians are notorious for only engaging in medicopolitical commentary when issues pertain to autonomy (medical assistance in dying and abortion).
however, a couple fun facts learned: fee-for-service payment models are particularly harmful to pregnant women (think: episiotomies), and Canadian physicians are notorious for only engaging in medicopolitical commentary when issues pertain to autonomy (medical assistance in dying and abortion).
Displaying 1 of 1 review