Your Alberta Health Act – Funding Health Services
Funding health services in Alberta
In Alberta, as in most of Canada, approximately 70 per cent of health services are paid for publicly. The remaining 30 per cent of health services are paid for privately.Alberta’s publicly funded health system is concentrated on hospital, physician and certain oral surgical costs – the medical side of the system. These three categories of services are generally considered to be the “medically necessary”, “medically required” or “insured services” addressed under the Canada Health Act and transfer payments from Ottawa to the provinces depend on them being publicly funded.
Apart from these “medically necessary,” “medically required” and “insured services,” the public system in Alberta provides a portion of the funding going to nursing homes, home care, medical devices and equipment, long-term care, ambulances, vision care, podiatric and physical therapy services. This funding is not necessarily universal and may be provided to categories of residents, such as seniors, or based on income testing.
Services that are largely paid for by Alberta residents privately, either directly out-of-pocket or through insurance plans (such as Blue Cross) include:
- Prescription drugs that are needed outside of hospital systems or nursing homes;
- Some nursing and other medical services needed in the home;
- Rates for long-term care accommodation;
- Some medical devices and equipment used outside hospitals;
- Ambulance services;
- Dental care;
- Vision care for non-senior adults;
- Psychological, chiropractic, physiotherapy services; and
- Elective cosmetic surgery.
There are many forms of publicly funded and privately delivered health services in Alberta. Private health facilities play an important role in the public health system to give patients timely and convenient access to health services. Privately owned facilities that deliver publicly funded services include:
- Services provided in facilities owned by an individual or private organization and operated for profit (e.g., physician offices, non-hospital surgical facilities, and long term care centres);
- Services owned by a voluntary religious organization (e.g., Covenant Health's facilities such as the Grey Nuns Hospital); and
- Private services delivered in public facilities (e.g., community diagnostic and lab services in some parts of Alberta).
The Alberta health system is a blend of providers and ways of delivering services, including publicly funded services provided in public facilities, publicly funded services provided in private facilities, and services partially funded with public funds and partially funded by individuals. In addition, there are services where the cost is covered by individuals, some of whom will have private insurance to offset the costs.
Source: Alberta Health and Wellness.
Source: A Foundation for Alberta's Health System – Report of the Minister’s Advisory Committee on Health.
