Health: a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
Health policy refers to decisions, plans, and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific health care goals within a society. An explicit health policy can achieve several things: it defines a vision for the future which in turn helps to establish targets and points of reference for the short and medium term. It outlines priorities and the expected roles of different groups; and it builds consensus and informs people.
Reading: “Myth: Medicare Covers All Necessary Health Services”
Canada has about a 70:30 mxi of publicly and privately purchased health services, with the proportion of services not covered publicly seems to be on the rise other nations insure as much as 90% of health services with public money whether a health service is covered by medicare depends on where the service is provided and who provides it some services funded in one province may not be funded in another province, likewise a service that may be covered when preformed in the hospital may not be covered if provided in the community or the home (ex. Psychologists) the legislation on medicare is set out in the Canada Health Act to receive federal contributions to their healthcare programs, provinces must comply with the minimum requirements which includes providing first-dollar coverage of “medically necessary” hospital and physician services the definition of medical necessity is left somewhat open to interpretation by the provinces, but there is a general agreement that some health services are “medically necessary” and that others are not the Canadian Health Act sets the minimum requirement, provinces can provide coverage of more services at their discretion hospitals attract about 30% of the total healthcare bill – this number has been shrinking over the last few years advocates for integrated healthcare