Previously published in Examiner
The history of providing medical care and other charities for the poor in Canada is older than Canada itself. It goes back to the colony of New France now known as Quebec, and Montreal key players such as Jeanne Mance, Margaret BOURGEOYS, and Margaret D’Youville lead the way. Hotel-Dieu is the oldest hospital in Canada and is located on St. Urbain Street in Montreal.
The need for medical care for the poor always remained a humanitarian issue and the Great Depression led the way for modern day revamping of the medical system in Canada. It was the individual provinces who began medical coverage on a wide scale platform.
Saskatchewan Hospitalization Act
The evolution toward a universal medicare system came about in 1946, when Saskatchewan was experiencing a shortage of doctors. Municipal doctor programs were started and each town would subsidize the doctor to practice there. This lead into the creation of Union hospitals in that province which ran under the same model. Saskatchewan lead the way for our modern day universal system. Much of the program back then was funded by the Saskatchewan government. “Tommy Douglas’ Co-operative Commonwealth Federation government in Saskatchewan passed the Saskatchewan Hospitalization Act, which guaranteed free hospital care for much of the population. Douglas had hoped to provide universal health care, but the province did not have the money. “
Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act
In 1950, Alberta had a medical plan that covered 90 percent of the population. It was the Federal Government run by Diefenbaker, in 1957 that created the Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act which would fund half of the cost for provinces that started up their government medical coverage plans. By 1961, all provinces had a medical coverage plan which was funded equally between province and federal government.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Hospitallers_of_St._Joseph
http://www.marguerite-bourgeoys.com/en/chapel/marguerite-Bourgeoys.asp
http://www.sgm.qc.ca/sgm/anglais/a_frameset.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Osler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Canada
http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/medical-cost-disability-11/slideshow-top-11-medical-expenses?ecd=wnl_day_062511