The Mazankowski report at 20: Reviving Canada’s best ever plan for medicare reform

Its mandate, “To provide strategic advice to the Premier on the preservation and future enhancement of qual- ity health services for Albertans and on the continuing sustainability of the publicly funded health system” (2001, 11), reflected growing public concern about the quality of health care that patients were receiving, especially the long wait times for treatment, and the equally important co. [...] Federally, the government commissioned the Romanow report, Building on Values: The Future of Health Care in Canada (2002), and the 8 THE MAZANKOWSKI REPORT AT 20 | February 2022 Senate released the Kirby report, The Health of Canadians – The Federal Role (2002). [...] Sustainability of the health care system Though there was agreement on some issues, on others there were stark dif- ferences, notably the sustainability of the health care system, the seriousness of wait times, and the nature and extent of change required. [...] The Chaoulli case The diagnosis of the problems in the health care system and the recommend- ed solutions in the Mazankowski report influenced court decisions, subse- quent health care reports, and government policies. [...] In the Chaoulli decision, for instance, some of the analyses by the Supreme Court Justices of the structural problems in Canadian health care mirrored ideas in the Mazankowski report.