Abstract

The financing and delivery of acute health services in Canada and Australia have much in common. Both countries have a government-funded public hospital system and fee-for-service medical care. The quality of care is very similar, as are many of our respective cultural and environmental issues, that is, if one considers sand and snow and ice to be similar. Both countries have vast geographies, with the bulk of the population concentrated in a narrow belt, and some isolated pockets dotted along distant borders. With a little poetic license, one can liken Australian states and capital cities to Canadian provinces and major centers. However, Canadians identify much more strongly with the Canada Health Act than Australians do with their equivalent Medicare. The proximity of the US health system probably plays a part in this.