Bottom Line: The truth behind private health insurance in Canada

ISBN 13: 978-1-897126-10-3
104 pages, paperback
Spring 2006

Non-Fiction

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about this book

The Supreme Court of Canada recently ruled that if wait lists are overly long in the public health care sector, individuals should have the right to buy coverage and services in the private sector. The Bottom Line: The truth behind private health insurance in Canada gets to the real story behind private health insurance through looking at the history of private insurance before Medicare and examining the myths and realities of health care in Canada.

The Bottom Line reveals how private health insurance is not cheaper than public and will result in a two-tiered health care system that offers nothing to solve the problems of wait lists or accessibility. In this concise and well-researched book, readers will find answers to the many questions surrounding this debate and viable solutions for strengthening Canada’s world-class model of health care from within.

About the Parkland Institute

The Parkland Institute is an Alberta research network situated within the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. The Institute operates within the established and distinctive tradition of Canadian political economy and is non-partisan. It studies economic, social, cultural, and political issues facing Albertans and all Canadians, using the perspective of political economy. The Institute shares the results of its research widely and promotes discussion of the issues its research raises.

reviews

You need to know what you are going to lose. Read this book and join the fight to stop the Americanization of Canada’s health care system before it is too late.”
—Shirley Douglas, daughter of Tommy Douglas

“This important and easy-to-read book deftly exposes the myths about the benefits of private health care.”
—Linda McQuaig, author and journalist

“Private health insurance is being spun as new cloth . . . The Bottom Line makes it clear that it is actually very old cloth with lots of holes which Canadians threw out for good reason a long time ago.”
—Gillian Steward, co-author of Clear Answers