There is not, and has never been, a single Canadian health system. Part of a series on the health systems of Canada's provinces and territories, Newfoundland and Labrador: A Health System Profile provides a critical analysis of how the single-payer health care system has been implemented in the country's youngest province.

Examining the way the province's health services are organized, funded, and delivered, the authors focus on the challenges involved in providing effective health care in a setting characterized by a large, decentralized territory; a small population, much of which is widely distributed in a large number of rural communities and small towns; and comparatively limited fiscal capacity and health human resources. Drawing on maps, figures, and collected data, this book documents the hesitant and limited ways in which Newfoundland and Labrador has sought to deal with the challenges and difficulties that the system has experienced in responding to recent changes in demography, economics, and medical technology.