Universal coverage of private health care: Quebecers’ opinions
The public health insurance system in Quebec, as in other provinces, provides universal coverage for a wide range of care and services considered “medically necessary.” Since the creation of Canada’s Medical Care Act in the 1960s, certain services have always fallen outside that medically necessary category and are therefore excluded from public coverage. This has resulted in many people having to pay out of pocket or purchase supplementary private insurance to cover a variety of services. A CIRANO study (Jacques et al., 2025) examines Quebecers’ perceptions of coverage that would extend to health-care services not covered by the current system. Drawing on survey data from a representative sample of the Quebec population, the authors show Quebecers’ support for health-care coverage expansion and reveal a certain amount of self-interest and personal ideology behind that support.
