The Medical Reform Group is a Canadian organization of physicians and medical students which supports universal public health care

Universal health care

Universal health care is a term referring to organized health care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.-History:...

. Founded in Toronto, Ontario in 1979 by Drs. Fred Freedman and Gordon Guyatt

Gordon Guyatt

Gordon Henry Guyatt is a physician and Professor of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He is known for his work on evidence-based medicine, a term that first appeared in a paper he published. He has published over 450 peer-reviewed articles in...

, it has at times played a significant role in the ongoing debate about Canada's Medicare system

Medicare (Canada)

Medicare is the unofficial name for Canada's publicly funded universal health insurance system. The formal terminology for the insurance system is provided by the Canada Health Act and the health insurance legislation of the individual provinces and territories.Under the terms of the Canada Health...

 and the appropriate role for public funding versus user fees or private insurance.

Among other things, the MRG supports the Canada Health Act, the move away from fee-for-service based practice to salary and/or capitation, a team-based approach to the provision of health services, reproductive choice, rational and cost-effective pharmaceutical prescribing practices, and health care delivery in a not-for-profit setting.

The Medical Reform Group is a democratic organization dedicated to the following three principles:

1. Health care is a right. The universal access of every person to high quality, appropriate health care must be guaranteed. the health care system must be administered in a manner which precludes any monetary deterrent to equal care.
2. Health is political and social in nature. Health care workers, including physicians, should seek out and recognize the social, economic, occupational, and environmental causes of disease, and be directly involved in their eradication.
3. The institutions of the health system must be changed. The health care system should be structured in a manner in which the equally valuable contribution of all health care workers is recognized. Both the public and health care workers should have a direct say in resource allocation and in determining the setting in which health care is provided.

The Medical Reform Group has student chapters at many universities across Canada.

See also

• Canadian Health Coalition
  Canadian Health Coalition
  The Canadian Health Coalition is a left-leaning lobby group dedicated to preserving Canada's current Medicare system and to promoting the overall goal and policy of universal public health care. In 2002 and 2003 it was the leading national organization advocating that the Canadian federal...
  
  
• Ontario Health Coalition
  Ontario Health Coalition
  The Ontario Health Coalition is a network of grassroots community organizations representing the province of Ontario, Canada. The Ontario Health Coalition is a non-partisan organisation committed to maintaining and enhancing Canada's publicly-funded, publicly-administered health care system.In...
  
  
• Canadian Medical Association
  Canadian Medical Association
  The Canadian Medical Association , with more than 70,000 members, is the largest association of doctors in Canada and works to represent their interests nationally. It formed in 1867, three months after Confederation...
  
  
• Canadian Doctors for Medicare
  Canadian Doctors for Medicare
  Canadian Doctors for Medicare is a lobby group of Canadian physicians dedicated to publicly financed and publicly administrated medical care.It runs E-rounds, a mailing to its members that presents evidence for public involvement in medical care...
  
  

External links

• Medical Reform Group
• Canadian Health Coalition (Canadian lobby group supporting public medicare)
• Ontario Health Coalition
• Canadian Medical Association
• Ontario Medical Association