The health care system in Canada is much-discussed in the international sphere, but often overlooked when it comes to its highly decentralized administration and regulation. Health Systems in Transition: Canada provides an objective description and analysis of the public, private, and mixed components that make up health care in Canada today including the federal, provincial, intergovernmental and regional dynamics within the public system. Gregory P. Marchildon’s study offers a statistical and visual description of the many facets of Canadian health care financing, administration, and service delivery, along with relevant comparisons to five other countries’ systems.

This second edition includes a major update on health data and institutions, a new appendix of federal laws concerning select provincial and territorial Medicare legislation, and, for the first time, a comprehensive and searchable index. It also provides  a more complete assessment of the Canadian health system based on financial protection, efficiency, equity, user experience, quality of care, and health outcomes.

Balancing careful assessment, summary, and illustration, Health Systems in Transition: Canada is a thorough and illuminating look at one of the nation's most complex public policies and associated institutions.

Gregory P. Marchildon is a Canada Research Chair in Public Policy and Economic History at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina. He was executive director of the Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada (the Romanow Commission). His most recent books include Health Systems in Transition: Canada (2013) and Nunavut: A Health System Profile (2013).

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