I’m Canadian. We have had for over 70 years what you would call government-controlled healthcare (gosh, that sounds scary! Government controlled! How could that be good?)
Actually, our system isn’t 100% run by the government, like the UK system. It’s funded by a combination of federal and provincial budgets: provinces run the system as they like, as long as it conforms to the Canada Health Act. The five pillars are: Universality, portability, comprehensiveness, Public management, no fees. As long as those principles are respected, the federal government sends transfer payments to the province. Doctors work for themselves, not the government. Hospitals are non-profit and publicly managed. We pay nothing for essential care.
We don’t have Planned Parenthood. We don’t need it. Women’s health and reproductive health, including contraception is fully covered.
We have no laws whatsoever concerning abortion. The laws concerning abortion were struck down by our Supreme Court in a series of rulings in 1988 and 1989. That’s right. There are zero laws concerning abortion. The ruling stated that restricting abortion violated women’s Section 7 Charter rights to “life, liberty and security of person.”
The ruling stated that the existing law “clearly interfered with a woman’s physical and bodily integrity.” Women are free to choose what to do with their own bodies. Access to abortion is treated like access to any medical procedure. It’s not a question of politics.
The system isn’t perfect — having no laws re abortion, together with provinces having some say in how they manage healthcare, left some provinces without easy access to abortion, and with different requirements in order to have one. We’re working on it.
Canada is a world leader in promoting gender equality. In fact, in June 2019, the PM announced
that the Government of Canada will raise its funding to reach $1.4 billion annually, starting in 2023, to support women and girls’ health around the world. A ten-year commitment, this historic investment will support sexual and reproductive health rights and maternal, newborn, and child health — with $700 million of the annual investment dedicated to sexual and reproductive health rights, as of 2023.
The only people who worry about any of this are conservatives, who are frothing at the mouth to privatize healthcare. I don’t know why conservatives are so unhappy all the time, but there it is.
But I understand why Americans would be afraid of government. All it takes is one look at your leader.
DR
