The term
medicare (in lower case) refers to
Canada's well-known universal public
health insurance[?] system. Under the terms of the
Canada Health Act[?], the
provinces provide all residents with health insurance cards, which entitle the bearer to receive free medical care for almost all procedures. Patients are free to choose their own doctor, hospital, etc. Health institutions are either private and not-for-profit (such as university hospitals) or state-run (such as
Quebec's
CLSC system), and doctors in private practice are entrepreneurs who bill the medicare system for their fees.
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