ABSTRACT
This chapter examines two private-sector borrowings—corporatization and privatization—and analyzes the implications of current forces and trends for the manner in which hospitals and other health services organizations are structured and financed. Advocates of privatization attack the premise that government is responsible for the individual's health or personal well-being and pay little attention to values such as "equity" or "distribution". Theories of incrementalism predict that it is very difficult to eliminate services once they have been provided. The political system is modelled on British parliamentary tradition, with considerable power resting with the executive. At the core of Canadian health services is a series of provincially-run insurance plans, which use public funds to finance and regulate, but not to manage, health services. Health care costs have been affected in a number of ways by the evolution of the health services system. The debate over corporatization and privatization of health services in Canada has taken a form distinct from that occurring elsewhere.
