Canadian Health Act

The act is designed to ensure that all eligible residents of Canadian provinces and territories have
reasonable access to medically necessary hospital and physician services on our prepaid basis, without
charges related to the provision of insured health services.

The Canada Health Act is Canada’s federal health insurance legislation defines the national principles
that govern the Canadian health system, namely, public administration, comprehensiveness,
universality, portability, and accessibility. These principles reflect the underlying Canadian values of the
equity and solidarity. Next paragraph the roles and responsibilities for Canada’s health care system are
shared between the federal provincial and territorial governments the provincial and territorial
governments have primary jurisdiction in the administration delivery of health care services this includes
setting their own priorities, administering their healthcare budgets, and managing their own resources.
The federal government under the act sets out the criteria and conditions that must be satisfied with
their provincial and territorial health insurance plans for provinces and territories to qualify for their full
share of the cash distribution available to them under the federal Canada health transfer.

The act sets out the primary objective of Canadian healthcare policy, which is “to protect, promote and
restore the physical and mental well being of residents of Canada and do facilitate reasonable access to
health services without financial or other barriers."

Theme of the act is to ensure that all eligible residents of Canadian provinces and territories have
reasonable access to medically necessary hospital and physician services on a prepaid basis, without
charges related to the provision of insured health services.

As a health systems navigator it is important to understand the Health Act in general as well as how it
pertains to your particular province.