Health systems in transition

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies or any of its partners concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. [...] The European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies is a partnership between the WHO Regional Office for Europe, the governments of Belgium, Finland, Greece, Norway, Spain and Sweden, the Veneto Region of Italy, the European Investment Bank, the Open Society Institute, the World Bank, CRP-Santé Luxembourg, the London School of Economics and Political Science and the London School of Hygiene & [...] In addition, however, the United States provides both a point of departure in terms of Medicare and Medicaid relative to Canadian Medicare, and a point of convergence in terms of the mixed and private portions of the Canadian system. [...] The terrain of the country varies considerably from extensive mountain ranges in western Canada to the Great Lakes and the prairies of the south- western interior, and from the northern boreal shield to the vast tundra of the Arctic. [...] Through its use of spending power in the form of fiscal transfers to the provinces and territories, the federal government upholds and enforces the national dimensions of insured hospitals and physicians as defined under the Canada Health Act.