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health care card
DCHP-2 (Dec 2016)
Spelling variants:health-care card, Health Care card
n. — Alberta, Administration
an identification card proving eligibility for government-provided health care.
Type: 5. Frequency — While not a nation-wide Canadianism (see Chart 1), the term qualifies as a regionalism because it is the established term in Alberta (see Chart 2, see the 1992 and 2014 quotations). In the three Canadian territories, the term also has considerable currency. The term is an older variant (see the 1978 quotation) that was institutionalized in these regions. As the quotations and Chart 2 show, the term is occasionally used elsewhere in Canada.
Quotations
1978
The minister's statement, in addition to announcing that all users of the health care system in Ontario will be assigned a health care card, will also inform the public that we have put in a submission to the commission in order that our concerns and those of the public, with respect to privacy and confidentiality, are given due consideration...
1985
I telephoned the Regie de l'assurance maladie du Quebec last July asking them to send me a new health care card since mine had expired. Many weeks later I called to inquire about my file and was told the application form had been mailed.
1992
"[...] Similarly, by treating an elderly person at home, we can help her maintain her dignity, improve her quality of life and keep her out of a nursing home."
Since such treatment is labour-intensive and time-consuming, paying doctors à la castonguette (the nickname for the Quebec health-care card) would be prohibitive.
1992
Alberta Health official Gordon Turtle adds:
*Carry your Alberta Health Care card, especially when you're leaving the province;
*Make sure your registration is current and your premiums are paid.
[list]
*Carry your Alberta Health Care card, especially when you're leaving the province;
*Make sure your registration is current and your premiums are paid.
[list]
2000
Ministers have rightly complained some ineligible people voted in 1995 -- notably some out-of-province students at Bishop's University. But a solution exists that would be simple and free: all voters could be obliged to bring to the polls a health-care card or a driver's license . . .
Images
Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 29 May 2014
