Universal Health Care In Canada

The Canadians population of 35,182,000 as of 2013 has a life expectancy of 80 - 84 years as of 2012 report (WHO, 2015), benefit from universal health coverage regardless of social economic class, and past medical history. The benefit of universal health coverage provides access to primary care, dental, hospital, and additional medical services, in alleviating poor health among citizens (Canada Health Care, 2004 - 2007). Although, these accesses do not guarantee good health, as “good health involves reducing levels of educational failure, reducing insecurity and unemployment and improving housing standards. Societies that enable all citizens to play a full and useful role in the social, economic and cultural life of their society will be healthier

The government target those who are prone to poor health as a result of food insecurity, education disadvantage, and hazard environmental safety net (NCCHPP, 2010). Canadian social determinant of health influential factors provides intervention for quality of education, adjusted income above the poverty line, nutrition, housing, and safe environment, as all these are factors to prevent the upstream of the poor determinant of health (CPHA, n.d.). The Canadian government-wide initiatives aim to improve health inequalities under various programs throughout the provinces. For instance, the Newfoundland and Labrador poverty reduction strategy (PRS), a government-wide initiative, developed five strategic goals that include, improving access and coordination of services for those with low incomes, invested over $100 million to alleviate, and prevent poverty in one Canada provinces. With such success, the initiative was able to target supporting persons with disabilities, families with children and provide post-secondary skilled programs, in which reduces its poverty rate to 7.6%, that of the third lowest in Canada (Bell, 2009, p. 6-

could learn and mimic, BCAPI was successfully able to “… found Partners Assisting Local Schools, an ambitious business-community schools partnership that has been implemented in seven inner-city schools; collaboration in establishing a residence and support program for homeless pregnant and parenting youth; facilitating the development of 100 new affordable housing units annually and the development of a housing strategy for Saint John; partnering in the establishment of The Resource Centre for Youth (TRC) a one-stop centre to engage teens in positive recreation, education, employment, health and community involvement experiences; partnerships to establish an alternative high school and daycare for teen parents and to support for adult literacy and GED preparation; and job-creation for people living in poverty. The implementation of the 3-year strategy enabled the city to exceed its targets and help more than 2000 local people move out of poverty. Saint John’s 10 year poverty trend has dropped from 27% (1996) to 20.8% (2006) and the number of children in poverty has been reduced from 35% to 28%” (Bell, 2009, p. 10 -