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- Canada gained its independence from England in 1982.
- Today Canada is a federally structured parliamentary democracy.
- Canada is composed of ten provinces and three governmental territories
-------------------------------The video below briefly explains the history of health care in Canada

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Making Medicare: The History of Health Care in Canada

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-Canada's current day healthcare system is called Medicare, just like that of its' neighboring country the United States of America.
- Medicare in Canada was established through the Canada Health Act of 1984.
- The Canada Health Act (CHA) set out to unify three previous acts and create a system that everyone could agree upon.
- The primary objective of the program according to the Canadian government is "to protect, promote and restore the physical and mental well-being of residents of Canada and to facilitate reasonable access to health services without financial or other barriers."

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1.  Public administration: “The provincial and territorial plans must be administered and operated on a nonprofit basis by a public authority.”
2. Comprehensiveness: “The provincial and territorial plans must insure all medically necessary services provided by hospitals, physicians, and dentists (when services must be performed in a hospital).”
3. Universality: “The provincial and territorial plans must cover all residents.”
4. Portability: The provincial and territorial plans must cover all residents when they travel within Canada. Limited coverage is also required for travel outside the country.”
5. Accessibility: “The provincial and territorial plans must provide all residents reasonable access to medically necessary services. Access must be based on medical need and not the ability to pay.”

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- One of the most unique things about the Medicare system in Canada is the way in which it is funded, though it can be both a blessing and a curse.
- The Canadian health care system is financed through several different sources, characterized by a mix of public and private transactions depending on the sector of health care.
-PRO: this can serve to take some of the financial pressure off of each party involved.
-CON: Wait times, in the comprehensiveness element of the CHA the term "Medically necessary" has posed an issue as to what procedures are actually medically necessary. This can lead to elongated wait times as the various payers in the multifaceted funding system debate whether or not a procedure is actually medically necessary.

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- According to health system tracker, Canada spends roughly $4,826 per Capita compared to $10,224 spent per capita in the United States.
- The average life expectancy in Canada was 81.9 (CIA 2015) compared to 80 in the United States.
- In the WHO rankings of healthcare systems by country the United States ranked 7 spots behind Canada's 30th.

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- Canadian health care system has been able to achieve great results. With the future sustainability they seem to be in line for and the overall satisfaction of the citizens it is hard to not believe in this system. Universal care sounds good, eh?