Extending Canadian Health Insurance : University of Toronto Press : 9780802033536 : 0802033539 : 15 Dec 1978 : This study explores the policy options a provincial government might consider in extending health care coverage to the purchase of prescription drugs and dental care. It examines the major public policy objectives involved, such as spreading risk, redistributing wealth, and reducing the barriers to care, and evaluates alternative programs in terms of their costs and efficiency as well as their realization of the basic social objectives of health care. Using varied statistics, some drawn from schemes in other provinces, it estimates what different packages of pharmacare and denticare would have cost in Ontario in 1975. The results indicate that universal coverage may be one of the most costly and least effective options. Based on current modes of service delivery, a universal pharmacare and denticare program would transfer wealth to upper income groups without significantly imp