Cutting Through the Ice …

Abstract

The papers that follow are part of an honest, reasonable and serious attempt to build on an existing consensus at the basis of medicare, which guarantees that all Canadians can get medical attention when sick and hospital care when very sick (or injured). Without any exception, reform proposals that run counter to these principles are doomed to failure. However, it becomes harder and harder to ensure that costly and complex healthcare services can be "readily and timely" accessed without a radical shift in approaches. To say things otherwise, to keep what we cherish, we must embrace change, in the form of collaboration, measurement and evidence.