Evidence Network

Three nutrition trends to stay away from — based on the best evidence

If you follow health tips in the media, you’d think the nutritional sciences are a mess: Is butter good for you or is it bad? Should I eat breakfast or skip it? Should I eat like a caveman? Or maybe should I eat more like a bird?

The never-ending saga of medical user fees in Quebec

On January 26, the Quebec regulation abolishing medical user fees came into effect, bringing the province in line with federal legislation outlined in the Canada Health Act (CHA). According to the CHA, the money that flows from Ottawa to the provinces for health services, known as the Canada Health Transfer, is conditional on the provinces […]

How proposed user fees for health services in Quebec threaten the Canadian health system

With a federal campaign in full force grabbing the majority of the headlines, a significant threat to Canada’s most treasured national program is going largely unnoticed.

Backgrounder: Healthcare with user fees

The most basic way of categorizing healthcare financing is to separate public and private healthcare costs. Public financing includes expenditures from any level of government (financed through taxation) as well as social insurance funds (these are much more widespread in European health care systems, although Workers’ Compensation Boards would be included here).