Health reform and privatization in Alberta

Canadian Public Administration

Volumn 49, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 486-505

  Church, John ^a   Smith, Neale ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA   (Canada)

^b UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33846305073     PISSN: 00084840     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1754-7121.2006.tb01995.x     Document Type: Review

References (35)

1. John N. Lavis, Suzanne E. Ross, Jeremiah E. Hurley, et al, "Examining the Role of Health-Services Research in Public Policymaking," Milbank Quarterly 80, no. 1 (2002), pp. 125-54.
2. For purposes of this analysis, ideas refer to underlying values and information contributing to policy choices. Interests refers to the various actors - interest groups, politicians, bureau crats, and policy entrepreneurs - who influence policy choices. Institutions refers to the formal and informal structures and processes involved in public policy decision-making.
3. Dennis Guest, The Emergence of Social Security in Canada, 3rd ed. (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1997).
4. Wendy Armstrong, Canada's Canary in the Mineshaft: The Consumer Experience with Cataract Surgery and Private Clinics in Alberta (Edmonton: Consumers' Association of Canada, 2000).
5. A. Johnson, Robert Walker, "Medical foundations backed," Calgary Herald, 26 October 1994, p.A1.
6. Canada, Health Canada, 1995, letter to provincial premiers, 16 October 1995, http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/medi-assur/interpretation/index_e.html.
7. Sujit Choudhry, "Bill 11, the Canada Health Act, and the Need for Institutions," in Timothy Caulfield and Barbara von Tigerstrom, eds., Health Care Reform and the Law in Canada (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2002), pp. 37-84.
8. The example of the dermatologist who will do a biopsy for skin cancer, but also do something cosmetic that is not covered.
9. Alberta, Alberta Health, letter to RHAS, 8 January 1996.
10. Through this process, the provincial government was able to substantially reduce the facility fee and to control the volume of services. This did not make all private providers happy.
11. Kevin Taft and Gillian Steward, Clear Answers: The Economics and Politics of For-profit Medicine (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2000).
12. Alberta, Hansard, 2 April 1998.
13. Alberta Health, "Agenda and Priorities Briefing Materials," 17 June, 1999.
14. Panel, Executive Summary, p. 4.
15. Alberta Health and Wellness, "Agenda and Priorities Briefing Material," 17 June 1999.
16. Ibid., "Current Private Clinic Policy," 28 October 1999.
17. Ibid., "Policy Options," 28 October 1999.
18. Alberta, "Report of the Advisory Committee on the Utilization of Medical Services," 1989.
19. Alberta Health, "Discussion Paper: Ambulatory Care Services in Alberta," 14 February 1991, p. xx.
20. We acknowledge that government probably shared some of these concerns, but had to seek a balance between competing values.
21. Stephen Heber and Raisa Deber, "Banning Extra-Billing in Canada - Just What the Doctor Didn't Order," Canadian Public Policy 13, no. 1 (1987), pp. 62-74.
22. Thomas A Hockin, Government in Canada (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1976), pp. 58-60.
23. David Taras and Allan Tupper, "Politics and Deficits: Alberta's Challenge to the Canadian Political Agenda," in David. M. Brown and Judith Hiebert, eds., State of the Federation 1994 (Kingston: Queen's University, 1994), pp. 61-83.
24. Shannon Sampert, "King Ralph, the Ministry of Truth, and the Media in Alberta," in Trevor Harrison, ed., The Return of the Trojan Horse: Alberta and the New World (Dis)Order (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 2005), pp. 37-51;
25. Don Martin, King Ralph: The Political Life and Success of Ralph Klein (Toronto: Key Porter Books, 2003), pp. 185-86.
26. Interestingly, no health minister had publicly expressed strong support for increased privatization.
27. Martin, King Ralph, pp. 212-14.
28. For a discussion of this, see John Church and Tom Noseworthy, "Health Care Reform in Alberta: Market Rhetoric and Reality," in Thomas Sullivan and Daniel Drache, eds, Globalization and Health Reform: Public Success, Private Failure, (London: Routledge, 1999), p. 192.
29. Rick Pedersen, "Doctors vote against Bill 11," Calgary Herald, 11 March 2000, p. A3.
30. Kevin Taft and Gillian Steward, Clear Answers: The Economics and Politics of For-profit Medicine (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2000), pp. 67-75, 90-91.
31. Ibid., p. 90.
32. Ibid., pp. 42-48.
33. HRG Health Resource Group, Inc., "A plan for the organization and delivery of complementary health services in Canada," May 1997.
34. Armstrong, Canada's Canary in the Mineshaft.
35. Martin, King Ralph, p. 210.