The Check-Off: A precursor of medicare in Canada?

Chryssa McAlister; Peter Twohig

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Out of date url
Tim Ruggles

Posted on: 07 January 2009
re:The Check-Off: A precursor of medicare in Canada?
Carole E MacDonald

Posted on: 05 May 2006
The Check-Off: A precursor of medicare in Canada?
Bob Frankford

Posted on: 14 December 2005

Posted on: (7 January 2009)
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Out of date url
Tim Ruggles
Hello- I'm just writing to advise that the url in this article for the interviews with Cape Breton coal miners has changed to the following:
http://www.library.dal.ca/Kellogg/Digital/Collections/CapeBretonCheck -OffSystem/
Thank you.
Tim Ruggles
Conflict of Interest:
None declared

Competing Interests: None declared.
Posted on: (5 May 2006)
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re:The Check-Off: A precursor of medicare in Canada?
Carole E MacDonald
Mr. M.J. Coldwell, Tommy Douglas' successor as leader of the CCF, made a speech in Glace Bay during an election year. Before taking the podium, he was approached by a group who informed him of the Check-Off system and suggested that miners might not be interested in national health care insurance, as they already had their own system. He was unaware of the Check-Off before arriving in Glace Bay and is reported to have r...
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Mr. M.J. Coldwell, Tommy Douglas' successor as leader of the CCF, made a speech in Glace Bay during an election year. Before taking the podium, he was approached by a group who informed him of the Check-Off system and suggested that miners might not be interested in national health care insurance, as they already had their own system. He was unaware of the Check-Off before arriving in Glace Bay and is reported to have replied, "Whether it goes well or not, if I'm elected Prime Minister of Canada, you're going to get medicare, including the Glace Bay miners."
Coldwell preceeded Douglas. He was the last leader of the CCF party. Douglas was the first leader of the NDP party. It would have been useful to know to which election year the interviewee referred.
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Competing Interests: None declared.
Posted on: (14 December 2005)
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The Check-Off: A precursor of medicare in Canada?
Bob Frankford
Surely Chryssa McAlister and Peter Twohig are correct in proposing the previous panel practice in Nova Scotia as a precursor of medicare.
But was there not a similar model used in other locations? There were closed work related groups in remote resource based communities and mutual benefit societies were common in the major urban centres - often run by jewish immigrant groups.
It's an interesting as...
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Surely Chryssa McAlister and Peter Twohig are correct in proposing the previous panel practice in Nova Scotia as a precursor of medicare.
But was there not a similar model used in other locations? There were closed work related groups in remote resource based communities and mutual benefit societies were common in the major urban centres - often run by jewish immigrant groups.
It's an interesting aspect of Canadian medical social history that also needs to be related to similar models in Britain and the US.
Bob Frankford
PS I just wrote this as a quick response without looking to see what has been studied and published. The topic warrants greater depth and detail.
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Conflict of Interest:
None declared
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Competing Interests: None declared.