Healthcare cooperativism in Canada: how it works

Canada has a long-standing tradition of having healthcare cooperatives and they are particularly concentrated in provinces such as Quebec, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. The cooperatives vary in size and they are present both in rural areas and in large, integrated urban clinics.

The healthcare cooperatives in Canada complement the public system, offering care that is patient-orientated and using comprehensive approaches to health. In many cases, they work as innovative spaces that combine traditional medicine with social and community services.

The history of healthcare cooperativism in Canada 

Healthcare cooperatives emerged as a community response to the need for access to medical services prior to the creation of the country’s universal public health system.

The first known healthcare cooperative was founded in 1944 in the city of Quebec: SSQ (Services de Santé de Québec). It was aimed at providing affordable medical care for the French Canadian working classes, at a time when there was no public healthcare cover. Over time, SSQ extended its offer to include life and disability insurance, medicines and dental care, amongst other services, adapting to the population’s every-changing needs.

During the following decades, the healthcare cooperatives expanded all over the country. Today, organisations such as the Community Health Services Association Ltd. (Saskatoon Community Clinic), founded in 1962 stand out, along with the Healthcare Co-operatives Federation of Canada (HCCFC), the national federation that groups together healthcare, wellbeing and social services cooperatives throughout Canada.

The arrival of free healthcare to the country

Healthcare cooperativism was developed parallel to the implantation of the universal public health system. In 1947, Saskatchewan, under the leadership of the Prime Minister Tommy Douglas (of the Social Democrat Party, CCF), was the first province to offer universal coverage for hospital medical care.

The model gradually spread and in 1966, the Canadian Parliament passed the Medical Care Act, a federal law that created the Medicare programme, granting universal medical cover to all Canadians and establishing a shared funding system with the provinces. It wasn’t until 1972 that all the provinces and territories adopted this public health system financed using public funds.

The role of healthcare cooperativism in Canada 

Currently, healthcare cooperatives in Canada complement the public system offering:

• A more streamlined, continuous access: particularly in areas where there is a lack of primary care doctors.
• A holistic, community approach: they include physical, mental and social health services.
• A reduction of barriers and greater equality: they look after vulnerable groups and rural communities.
• Innovation and citizen participation: they promote care models centred on the patients and that are managed democratically.

These cooperatives help to ease the congestion of the health system, providing effective primary care and reducing hospital dependency.