MENTAL-HEALTH-SERVICES IN A SINGLE-PAYER SYSTEM - LESSONS FROM CANADA AND PRINCIPLES FOR AN AMERICAN PLAN

The authors review the advantages of financing mental health care in the U.S. along the lines of the Canadian single-payer system and argue that the pillars of the Canadian system-accessibility, comprehensiveness, portability, public administration, and universality-are standards a restructured U.S. system could achieve. The merits of including mental health coverage in a basic benefits package are also discussed. The authors believe limits on reimbursement for psychologists in Canada should not keep US. psychologists from supporting single-payer proposals because (a) the professional Zeitgeist in the U.S. in 1992 is very different from that of Canada in the late 1960s, and (b) Canadian psychologists could have participated but failed to achieve professional consensus on the merits of inclusion in the national health program.