Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) are a method of financing health care that includes two essential features: an individual (or household)-specific account whose balances are earmarked for health care expenses; a high-deductible, catastrophic insurance plan that covers expenses above the...

Objectives: This article examines the extent of geographic disparity in premature mortality in Ontario and considers factors that may underlie variations in premature mortality across geographic areas. Data Source: Mortality data for years 1992-1996 were obtained from Vital Statistics Records,...

In 1997, the Canadian National Forum on Health recommended creation of a national pharmacare program, the key elements of which would include: (a) universal first-dollar coverage for medically necessary medications; (b) comprehensive information support tools for managers, clinicians, and...

This paper uses a case study approach to document and analyze the interactions that arise between two health care payers in Canada: the provincial public health care insurance plans and the provincial Workers Compensation Boards. Through a documentary review and semistructured key-respondent...

Canada's restrictions on the role of private health insurance for publicly insured physician and hospital services are unique among countries with universal, publicly funded health care systems. Pressure is mounting in Canada, however, to loosen these restrictions and create a parallel system of...

This paper employs cohort analysis to examine the relative importance of different factors in explaining changes in the number of hours spent in direct patient care by Canadian general/ family practitioners (GP/FPs) over the period 1982 to 2002. Cohorts are defined by year of graduation from...

The price elasticity of demand for prescription drugs is a crucial parameter of interest in designing pharmaceutical benefit plans. Estimating the elasticity using micro-data, however, is challenging because insurance coverage that includes deductibles, co-insurance provisions and maximum...

This paper presents the findings from simulations of the introduction of publicly funded medical savings accounts (MSAs) in the province of Ontario, Canada. The analysis exploits a unique data set linking population-based health survey information with individual-level information on all...

This paper employs a cohort analysis to examine the relative importance of different factors in explaining changes in the number of hours spent in direct patient care by Canadian general|family practitioners (GPs) over the period 1982-2003. Cohorts are defined by year of graduation from medical...

Problems of access to physician services have arisen in Canada at a time when physician hours of work have been undergoing important changes. This study investigates the relationship between physicians' hours of dir ect patient care and physicians' service supply using individual-level data from...