A Case Study and State of Science Review: Private versus Public Healthcare Financing

Medicare is a popular program in Canada that offers universal access to medically-necessary healthcare services for all Canadians through a public insurance plan in each province. In spite of its popularity, healthcare privatization has been debated, often over concerns about wait times for healthcare services. A case report focused on the 2005 Supreme Court's response to the “Chaoulli v. Quebec” challenge of the Quebec law banning the purchase of private health insurance for publicly-insured services is presented, along with findings from a state of science review to determine if there would be any benefit from adopting the United States model of private health insurance. This review reveals private health insurance would have significant negative implications, especially by creating inequity in healthcare access for low-income groups. Further study is needed to determine whether Canada's publicly-funded healthcare system would benefit in any way from increased private financing.