According to the latest Canadian Health Care Matters bulletin from the Health Council of Canada, many Canadians with Chronic health conditions don't receive the expected types of support, regularly.

The bulletin - "Helping Patients Help Themselves: Are Canadians with chronic conditions getting the support they need to manage their health? ", is based on the 2008 Canadian Survey of Experiences with Primary Health Care. It measured the support provided to the Canadian patients.

"Self-management is recognized as a crucial aspect of primary health care. Patients with chronic conditions, need support to develop the knowledge and skills to manage their health and become partners in their own health", said Lyn McLeod, a Councilor at the Health Council of Canada.

Ottawa distributes important health-care money to the provinces, but it only covers a small percentage of their overall costs. B. C., for instance, gets about $3-billion a year from the federal government which is about 20 % of its total health budget. And yet, B. C. has to administer its system under rules set out by Ottawa and the Canada Health Act. At the same time, the number of taxpayers available to support the system is shrinking.

"Health care is so effective and so desirable that our demand for it is almost without limits. Whoever tries to impose limits is bound to be unpopular. And so we drive toward the horizon as the cliff gets closer every day", says Michael Bliss, a historian.