Privatisation: An attempt that failed

Throughout the twentieth century doctors in most western countries strongly resisted government attempts to intervene in private medical markets. The support for privatisation that has developed during the current economic recession is welcomed therefore by the medical profession. In several countries campaigns have been staged for a full or partial return to market forces in the health care field. This article traces the course of one such push in Canada where doctors and other advocates of privatisation demanded a larger role for the private sector in the funding and management of Medicare, the national health insurance system. The policy outcome is contrary to the general privatising tendency in many countries: after a period of intense controversy the federal government passed legislation to preserve and strengthen the public aspects of the scheme. The normally powerful medical profession lost its campaign for an infusion of private funds into the health system and for the retention of the right of doctors to set their own fees. Consumer and other non‐producer groups, which have not traditionally played a central role in health policy, mobilised in defense of Medicare and were able to achieve most of their aims.