Tommy Douglas And The Medicare Program In Canada

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Tommy Douglas was born in Scotland in the year of 1904. At the age of 15 Douglas immigrated to Winnipeg, Canada and later moved to Saskatchewan.here he found , much suffering because the province was under economic depression and drought.
Douglas became involved in ministering to peoples physical and spiritual needs. He then went on to pursue further academic studies in Christian ethics. These studies, along with his experience of the Great Depression, led him to conclude that political action was necessary to alleviate the suffering he saw around him. Douglas had many accomplishments within his 44 year long political career including; being the first to introduce the Medicare Plan, being first to introduce a Farm Security Act in North
America as well as introducing paid holidays for workers. Tommy Douglas brought great change to Canada and deserved the title as "Most Important Canadian" as surveyed by the CBC in 2005.
The Universal Medical Plan was established in 1962, one year after Douglas left provincial politics. Although the Medicare Plan did not start until Douglas stepped down, he had brought the idea in 1959 while being the leader of the Cooperative
Commonwealth Federation (CCF). This Medicare Plan covered everyone in
Saskatchewan with pre paid health care which provided full medical, dental and drug coverage to those needing state assistance. Earlier in 1947 the very first hospital insurance plan in Canada came into effect, this being the Saskatchewan's Hospital
Services Plan. Douglas then encouraged the federal government to create a natioinal plan that helped fun diagnostic services. 19 years after the first hospital insurance plan came into effect, the Medical Care Act was put into place all across Canada. Other healt... ... middle of paper ...

...eader. He is largely responsible for our unemployment insurance, our universal Medicare and the Farm Security Act. When asked why he stayed with the New
Democratic Party, Douglas simply replied, "I have watched politicians for the last forty years drop their principles in order to get power only to find that those who paid and controlled the party, which they joined, prevented them from all the things they really believed in." On November 29, 2004 Tommy Douglas was named The Greatest
Canadian of all time by voters across Canada. His social democratic legacy is appreciated across Canada and his legacy can be seen in the social and medical programs that serve Canadians. Tommy Douglas deserved the title as "Most Important
Canadian" as surveyed by the CBC in 2005. To the end of his days Douglas was true to himself, to what he stood for and to the people he represented.

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