The Beginnings
On June 13, 1969, the National Assembly assented to Bill 30, thereby establishing the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ) with the following mandate: to set up the Québec Health Insurance Plan on July 1, 1970.
Review of the Canadian and Québec health systems
The Hall Commission was constituted in 1961 to conduct a systematic review of the Canadian healthcare system. Issued in 1964, its report charted the course for the governments, both federal and provincial.
In the spirit of the Hall Commission recommendations, Québec adopted the Medical Assistance Act in 1966 to ensure that social assistance recipients had medical care coverage. With the objective of conducting an overall assessment of its own healthcare system, the Québec government established, that same year, the Castonguay-Nepveu Commission, first chaired by Claude Castonguay, then by Gérard Nepveu. In 1967, the Commission proposed implementation of a complete and universal health insurance plan for all Québec residents.
Free access to healthcare
On July 1, 1968, the Medical Care Act came into effect. The Act established a cost-sharing program between the two levels of government whereby the federal government undertook to cover half the costs of the provincial and territorial health insurance plans. Targeted provisions were specifically aimed at ensuring free access to healthcare.
RAMQ is created
The provincial government's own efforts culminated on June 13, 1969 with the creation of the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec. The government's goal was to respond to the needs of its citizens and implement its own health and social welfare policies, in line with the spirit of the federal policies. Robert Després was the founding president and chief executive officer of RAMQ.
The Québec Health Insurance Plan comes into effect
With the Health Insurance Plan due to come into effect on November 1, 1970, its architects had sixteen months to design, test and set up the administrative structure of a vast system, one that needed to process millions of claims from health professionals and register some five million people for the plan.
Using a list of names and addresses obtained from government departments and agencies, RAMQ sent a form to the heads of families to check the accuracy of the information already collected. Those persons not reached could register by filling out a coupon appearing in newspapers. This is how all Québec residents obtained their first Health Insurance Card.
Then Prime Minister Robert Bourassa, with Robert Després and Claude Castonguay.
