"In place for over a quarter-century, public health insurance remains Canada's most popular social program. Why do 96 percent of Canadians prefer their health care system to the U.S. model? And why do more than 60 percent of Americans agree with them?". "The answers can be found in the five principles at the core of the Canadian approach. To be eligible for federal funding, provincial governments must ensure that hospital care and medical care in their provinces are universal, accessible, comprehensive, portable, and publicly administered.". "Universal Health Care examines what these principles mean in practice. It spells out the specific mechanisms used by the provinces to make sure that the entire population receives, without charge at the point of delivery, all the services that the nation's doctors determine to be medically necessary. In the process, this book makes comparisons with the U.S. system, and addresses the concerns raised by U.S. critics of the Canadian approach."--BOOK JACKET.