Medicare (Canada)

Common card · No. 435127

Medicare (French: assurance-maladie) is an unofficial designation used to refer to the publicly funded single-payer healthcare system of Canada. The system consists of ten provincial and three territorial health insurance plans, which provide universal healthcare coverage to Canadian citizens, permanent residents and, depending on the province or territory, certain temporary residents. The systems are individually administered on a provincial or territorial basis, within guidelines set by the federal government. The formal terminology for the insurance system is provided by the 1984 Canada Health Act (French: Loi canadienne sur la santé) and the health insurance legislation of the individual provinces and territories. The name is a contraction of medical and care and has been used in the United States for health care programs since at least 1953, with Medicare becoming that nation’s official national health insurance program. Under the terms of the Canada Health Act, all "insured persons...

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