Mixed prognosis: Equity, access, and emerging issues within British Columbia's health care system

The author, an American, examines British Columbia's health care system as it struggles to retain equity and access as two of its implacable tenets. S ome sources argue that realities fall far short of the abstract ideals. Cer tainly implementation and funding problems are growing as B.C.'s policy mak ers struggle with large-scale economic pressures and management priorities. Despite the system's shortcomings, however, U.S. readers would be wise to c onsider the philosophical and rhetorical impact of these normative concepts . Their presence and power encapsulates the breadth of the contrast between the Canadian and American systems.