Medicare (Canada)
Medicare () is an unofficial designation used to refer to the publicly funded, single-payer health care system of Canada. Canada does not have a unified national health care system; instead, the system consists of 13 provincial and territorial health insurance plans that provides universal health care coverage to Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and certain temporary residents. These systems are individually administered on a provincial or territorial basis, within guidelines set by the federal government. The formal terminology for the insurance system is provided by the "Canada Health Act" and the health insurance legislation of the individual provinces and territories.
Refugee health care in Canada
The concept of a “right to health” has been recognized in a number of international rights instruments to which Canada is a party. It was first articulated in the 1946 Constitution of the World Health Organization as “the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health." Article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights also mentions the right to health as part of the right to an adequate standard of living. Some international human rights instruments acknowledge a right to health by general application and others through the protection of rights of specific groups such as women or children. In 1966, the right to health was recognized as a human right in article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which imposes an obligation on state parties to the Covenant to create “conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness”.