Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Canada Paradox: The Public-Private Divide in Health Insurance and Pensions

  • Chapter
Public and Private Social Policy

Abstract

In recent years, academic attention has returned to an issue highlighted by Richard Titmuss half a century ago: the intersection of public and private social benefits (Titmuss 1958). This renewed interest in the public-private divide reflects an understanding that the structure of private benefits can have a significant impact on the development of public programs. It also reflects a growing realization that the balance between public and private benefits is critical to the distribution of risk in contemporary society, and that current changes in private benefits in many countries are triggering a privatization of risk that is not being offset by public benefit programs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Banting, Keith. 1985. “Institutional Conservatism: Federalism and Pensions.” In J. S. Ismael (ed.), Canadian Social Welfare Policy: Federal and Provincial Dimensions. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banting, Keith. 1987. The Welfare State and Canadian Federalism (Second Edition). Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banting, Keith. 2005. “Canada: Nation-Building in a Federal Welfare State.” In Herbert Obinger, Stephan Leibfried, and Frank G. Castles (eds), Federalism and the Welfare State: New World and European Experiences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Battle, Ken. 2001. “Relentless Incrementalism: Deconstructing and Reconstructing Canadian Income Security.” In Keith Banting, Andrew Sharpe, and France St-Hilaire (eds), Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Béland, Daniel and Jacob S. Hacker. 2004. “Ideas, Private Institutions and American Welfare State ‘Exceptionalism’: The Case of Health and Old-Age Insurance, 1915—1965.” International Journal of Social Welfare 13: 42–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Béland, Daniel and John Myles. 2005. “Stasis Amidst Change: Canadian Pension Reform in an Age of Retrenchment.” In Giuliano Bonoli and Toshimitsu Shinkawa (eds), Ageing and Pension Reform Around the World: Evidence from Eleven Countries. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boychuk, Gerard W. 2002. “Federal Spending in Health …Why Here? Why Now?” In G. Bruce Doern (ed.), How Ottawa Spends 2002–2003: The Security Aftermath and National Priorities: 121–36. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boychuk, Gerard W. 2003. “The Federal Role in Health Care Reform: Legacy or Limbo?” In G. Bruce Doern (ed.), How Ottawa Spends 2003–2004: The Legacy Agenda: 89–104. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boychuk, Gerard W. 2004. “The Changing Economic and Political Environment.” In Greg Marchildon, Tom McIntosh, and Pierre-Gerlier Forest (eds), The Fiscal Sustainability of Health Care in Canada: 320–39. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boychuk, Gerard W. 2005. “How Ottawa Gambles: Rolling the Dice and the Politics of Health Care Reform in 2004.” In G. Bruce Doern (ed), How Ottawa Spends, 2005/6: Mandate Change in the Paul Martin Era: 41–57. Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boychuk, Gerard W. 2006. “The Chrétien Non-Legacy: The Federal Role in Health Care Ten Years On, 1993–2003.” In Steve Patten and Lois Harder (eds), The Chrétien Legacy: 234–54. Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boychuk, Gerard W. 2007. “Patience! … Wait Time Guarantees: Harper and Health Care.” In Bruce G. Doern (ed), How Ottawa Spends, 2007/8. Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, Robert and Jeffrey Ip. 2000. “Social Security—Adequacy, Equity and Progressiveness: A Review of Criteria Based on Experience in Canada and the United States.” North American Actuarial Journal 4(1): 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryden, Kenneth. 1974. Old Age Pensions and Policy-Making in Canada. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Business Council on National Issues. 1982. Testimony before the Ontario Select Committee on Pensions. Proceedings (January 21): 23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canada National Health and Welfare. 1955. Health Care in Canada: Expenditures and Sources of Revenue, 1953. Ottawa: National Health and Welfare.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canadian Institute for Health Information. 2008. National Health Expenditure Database. Retrieved on 25/03/08 from http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=spend_nhex_e.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cloward, Laurence. 1969. “Recent Pension Developments.” In National Trust, A Study of Canadian Pension Plans (Third Edition). Toronto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cloward, Laurence. 1991. Mercer Handbook of Canadian Pensions and Welfare Plans. Don Mills: CCH Canadian Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Finance. Various years. Tax Expenditures. Ottawa: Department of Finance.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dominion Bureau of Statistics. 1952–1974. Trusted Pension Plans in Canada. Ottawa: Dominion Bureau of Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hacker, Jacob S. 2002. The Divided Welfare State: The Battle over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hacker, Jacob S. 2004. “Privatizing Risk without Privatizing the Welfare States: The Hidden Politics of Social Policy Retrenchment in the United States.” American Political Science Review 98(2): 243–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howard, Christopher. 1997. The Hidden Welfare State: Tax Expenditures and Social Policy in the United States. New Jersey, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howard, Christopher. 2006. The Welfare State Nobody Knows: Debunking Myths about US Social Policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Industrial Relations Centre. 1938. Industrial Retirement Plans in Canada. Kingston: Industrial Relations Centre, Queen’s University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingdon, John. 1984. Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies. Boston, MA: Little Brown.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latimer, William. 1964. “Pension Plans and Income Tax.” In Laurence Cloward (ed), Pensions in Canada. Don Mills: CCH Canadian Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maioni, Antonia. 1998. Parting at the Crossroads: The Emergence of Health Insurance in the United States and Canada. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. 2006. OECD Health Data 2006 [CD-ROM]. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orloff, Ann. 1993. The Politics of Pensions: A Comparative Analysis of Britain, Canada, and the United States, 1880–1940. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierson, Paul. 1996. “The New Politics of the Welfare State.” World Politics 48(2): 142–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smart, Michael and Mark Stabile. 2005. “Tax Credits, Insurance and the Use of Medical Care.” Canadian Journal of Economics 38(2): 345–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Statistics Canada. 1980. Historical Statistics in Canada. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Statistics Canada. 2004. Pension Plans in Canada 2003. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Malcolm. 1978. Health Insurance and Canadian Public Policy: The Seven Decisions that Created the Canadian Health Insurance System and Their Outcomes. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thelen, Kathleen. 2004. How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain, the United States and Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Titmuss, Richard. 1958. Essays on the “Welfare State”. London: Allen and Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Urqhart, M. C. 1965. Historical Statistics in Canada. Toronto: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Gerard W. Boychuk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Keith G. Banting
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Saskatchewan, Canada

    Daniel Béland (Professor of Public Policy) (Professor of Public Policy)

  2. Department of Sociology and Law School, Case Western Reserve University, USA

    Brian Gran (Associate Professor) (Associate Professor)

Copyright information

© 2008 Gerard W. Boychuk and Keith G. Banting

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Boychuk, G.W., Banting, K.G. (2008). The Canada Paradox: The Public-Private Divide in Health Insurance and Pensions. In: Béland, D., Gran, B. (eds) Public and Private Social Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230228771_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation