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Health for All: A Doctor's Prescription for a Healthier Canada
An Instant #1 National Bestseller • From one of Canada's most respected and high-profile health professionals (and former federal Minister of Health), a timely, practical, ambitious, and deeply personal call for action on health that sets out the roadmap to our future well-being.
Jane Philpott has spent her life learning what makes people sick and what keeps people well. She has witnessed miracles in modern medicine. She has also watched children die of starvation in a world that has plenty of food. With Health for All, she sounds a clarion call for a radical disruption in a health care system that is broken—but not beyond repair. The vision is rooted in a deep-seated commitment to health equity.
Decades ago, a few visionary Canadian leaders put laws in place to ensure health care insurance for all. But the structures to deliver that care were never fully developed as envisioned. As a result, our health systems are not comprehensive or well-coordinated. In the wake of a pandemic, we risk it all falling apart. More than six million people have no family doctor, nor any other access to primary care. Emergency rooms are routinely closed. Exhausted health workers wonder if it will ever get better. Some say we should hand health care over to the private sector. But to abandon our commitment to publicly funded health care now would only lead to more expensive and less equitable care. Philpott outlines a different solution—an ambitious, once-in-a-generation reset of health systems with universal access to primary care teams.
What sets this book apart is that it’s more than a prescription for better medical care. Philpott looks at the big picture of health for all. This includes an intimate look at the personal roots of hope, belonging, meaning, and purpose. Then, through real-life stories, she examines the impact of the social determinants of health. Finally, she explains that none of this will happen without the political will to do the hard work of rebuilding a healthy society. The remedy we await is serious leadership to implement what we already know and to put the well-being of Canadians at the top of the agenda.
Jane Philpott has spent her life learning what makes people sick and what keeps people well. She has witnessed miracles in modern medicine. She has also watched children die of starvation in a world that has plenty of food. With Health for All, she sounds a clarion call for a radical disruption in a health care system that is broken—but not beyond repair. The vision is rooted in a deep-seated commitment to health equity.
Decades ago, a few visionary Canadian leaders put laws in place to ensure health care insurance for all. But the structures to deliver that care were never fully developed as envisioned. As a result, our health systems are not comprehensive or well-coordinated. In the wake of a pandemic, we risk it all falling apart. More than six million people have no family doctor, nor any other access to primary care. Emergency rooms are routinely closed. Exhausted health workers wonder if it will ever get better. Some say we should hand health care over to the private sector. But to abandon our commitment to publicly funded health care now would only lead to more expensive and less equitable care. Philpott outlines a different solution—an ambitious, once-in-a-generation reset of health systems with universal access to primary care teams.
What sets this book apart is that it’s more than a prescription for better medical care. Philpott looks at the big picture of health for all. This includes an intimate look at the personal roots of hope, belonging, meaning, and purpose. Then, through real-life stories, she examines the impact of the social determinants of health. Finally, she explains that none of this will happen without the political will to do the hard work of rebuilding a healthy society. The remedy we await is serious leadership to implement what we already know and to put the well-being of Canadians at the top of the agenda.
295 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 9, 2024
113 people are currently reading
837 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
April 10, 2024
I would give this book 7 stars if I could. I think all Canadians should read it. Jane Philpott is remarkable and she presents a feasible and inspiring model for reform of Canada’s healthcare system. But she also tells some extraordinary stories. It’s not a difficult read and there’s a lot people ought to know.
October 18, 2025
This book could prove to be the much needed guide to transformative change in Canada’s healthcare system. Politicians, physicians, healthcare workers and patients must support initiatives to repair our once exemplary healthcare.
I am a Registered Nurse that worked on a Family Health Team for 17 years. I know that if we all cooperate it can work.
I appreciate Dr Philpott’s personal stories about faith, grief, living and working in Niger, and her very productive time in politics. This wide and varied experience add weight to the wisdom with which she approaches this great current concern of many, if not all Canadians.
I highly recommend this book.
I am a Registered Nurse that worked on a Family Health Team for 17 years. I know that if we all cooperate it can work.
I appreciate Dr Philpott’s personal stories about faith, grief, living and working in Niger, and her very productive time in politics. This wide and varied experience add weight to the wisdom with which she approaches this great current concern of many, if not all Canadians.
I highly recommend this book.
April 19, 2024
Deeply moving, inspiring and accessible!
May 18, 2024
This is one of the most practical books I've read about the Canadian healthcare system and the steps we need to take in order to ensure true access for everyone. I really appreciate the mix of experience Philpott brought working on the front lines and in policy.
One idea that really stuck with me from this book is how she mentioned that we've made efforts to guarantee education for children - there are systems to ensure that kids have a school to go to, no matter where they live. Why don't we guarantee the same access to healthcare? The waitlist is years long in most places just to get a primary care doctor and so many people get bounced around and fall through the cracks.
Hearing her story and experiences makes me hopeful that, should I choose to go back into healthcare, there are tangible ways I could help push the needle to a more equitable future for healthcare in Canada.
One idea that really stuck with me from this book is how she mentioned that we've made efforts to guarantee education for children - there are systems to ensure that kids have a school to go to, no matter where they live. Why don't we guarantee the same access to healthcare? The waitlist is years long in most places just to get a primary care doctor and so many people get bounced around and fall through the cracks.
Hearing her story and experiences makes me hopeful that, should I choose to go back into healthcare, there are tangible ways I could help push the needle to a more equitable future for healthcare in Canada.
July 21, 2024
In the first week of my new job in primary care, I had the privilege of hearing Jane Philpott speak. After 24 years working in community care, my first weeks were eye-opening as I learned about missed opportunities and the great work in primary care.
Hearing her compare the rights of access to a "primary care home" to the rights for students to attend school was impactful but her book taught me so much more.
I learned about Jane as a human, she too is a mom of 4 and I cannot imagine what she went through losing her eldest daughter. She cares deeply about others, social determinants of health, service and fairness.
Her commentary on health care and the parallels and missed opportunities in politics along with the importance of collaboration, mutual respect, kindness should be read by all!!!
"we have to pull together, prioritize or collective well-being, and put in the hard work to construct a society that is functional and fair for all"
"when you are sick, you have one focus, and that's to get back to health. As a country, we are ailing, and our prioritiy should be to get better"
Hearing her compare the rights of access to a "primary care home" to the rights for students to attend school was impactful but her book taught me so much more.
I learned about Jane as a human, she too is a mom of 4 and I cannot imagine what she went through losing her eldest daughter. She cares deeply about others, social determinants of health, service and fairness.
Her commentary on health care and the parallels and missed opportunities in politics along with the importance of collaboration, mutual respect, kindness should be read by all!!!
"we have to pull together, prioritize or collective well-being, and put in the hard work to construct a society that is functional and fair for all"
"when you are sick, you have one focus, and that's to get back to health. As a country, we are ailing, and our prioritiy should be to get better"
September 7, 2024
Jane Philpott's personal story is both tragic and inspiring. However, I was hoping for concrete solutions to the problems facing the Canadian health care system. Aside from some interesting strategies on how to encourage more medical students to pursue a career as family doctors, the book was mostly pie in the sky examples of how the Canadian health care system "should" operate. She doesn't get into the nitty gritty of how much this health care system would cost and how it would be implemented. Her general argument is that Canadians need to vote the right people into office, which is almost laughable considering she didn't take any major steps to fix the health care system when she was the Minister of Health for the Liberal Party, who then expelled her from caucus for taking a stand against their corruption. You would think she would be more jaded after that experience.
At the end of the book I was left with more questions than answers.
At the end of the book I was left with more questions than answers.
May 15, 2024
Equal parts policy paper and personal memoir, this artful articulation of the state of our ailing health system and why Dr. Philpot is qualified to present the SOAP notes that might offer a solution (when you give it a read, that comment will make sense).
The state of Canadian healthcare and how we got there is impossible to caption in every necessary nuance in this short of a read, but Dr. Philpot has probably done the best job of doing so in a digestible way relevant to our post-pandemic health system.
This is a must read for anyone to understand the dire intervention required in our system
The state of Canadian healthcare and how we got there is impossible to caption in every necessary nuance in this short of a read, but Dr. Philpot has probably done the best job of doing so in a digestible way relevant to our post-pandemic health system.
This is a must read for anyone to understand the dire intervention required in our system
April 24, 2024
Dr. Jane Phillpot is one of Canada's many unsung heroes. With exceptional education, experience, wisdom and integrity, she clearly lays out a path forward for every citizen in our country to live well and to succeed. I wish this book could be required reading for every Canadian.
September 12, 2025
I liked how the book was broken up into 4 parts: clinical, spiritual, social, and political. I enjoyed hearing about her stories in the spiritual section, I feel I better understand her and what fuels her passion. I also learned a lot in the political section through her time as health minister. The social and clinical sections were good but not much that i haven’t heard already from elsewhere.
February 5, 2025
Thank you Dr. Philpott for proving, in no uncertain terms, that it CAN be done. This is an outline that I wish was mandatory reading for elected officials. We can have what the Canada Health Act dreamed for us, and that’s an inspiring and exciting idea to read about.
May 13, 2024
A book for all us Canadian’s to read and advocate for changes in our health care!
Way to go Jane!
Happy reading 📖
Way to go Jane!
Happy reading 📖
January 2, 2025
I had high expectations of this book but was left feeling disappointed. It was interesting to read about Jane Philpott’s life but I was more interested in the health care aspect. Although I agree with the need to focus on primary care, her proposed solutions fell short and lacked detail. Primary care teams need to expand to include multiple allied health professionals (rarely mentioned by Jane Philpott in her book) in order for Canadians to receive truly effective health care . The book reads more as a memoir than a prescription for our ailing health care system.
January 21, 2025
As much (or perhaps more so) a book about policy and politics as it is about medicine, this was a surprisingly interesting read.
Since I’ve been old enough to care, elections have always seemed like some sort of high stakes reality show, with one politician throwing insults at the other and competing for who gets to sit in the chair for the next four years. And much like many high school student council elections, it often seems like more of a means to an end rather than a true desire to use the platform to carry out a vision. Isn’t it odd when you start thinking “who do I dislike less” rather than “whose vision resonates with me?”
In this book, Philpott, a family doctor turned politician describes her experience in medicine and as Minister of Health. It feels (is?) current, with references to COVID and Justin Trudeau, and takes you into things from a perspective I’ve never looked into - what governments actually do with their time and money, with an emphasis on healthcare. In addition, it makes me reflect why I didn’t pay more attention to it.
A rather practical guide, she outlines her vision for a primary care as a school execution. That is, much like every child has a school, every person should have a primary care “home” where they can rely on as a go-to for all things healthcare. They shouldn’t be struggling to find appointments with their own family doctors and juggling lengthy referrals with incompatible specialists, or sitting unattached in a packed emergency room as many without family doctors in Canada do right now. I’ve had a family doctor my whole life, and I didn’t even realize I was lucky until this year. I remember talking with someone, noticing she seemed visibly distraught one day. When I asked her what was wrong, she laughed in a wry way, admitting she was actually quite anxious after learning she might be removed from her family doctor after violating policy and visiting walk ins without notice several times. The irony of this worry and its legitimacy was humbling. When the topic was brought up, a family friend spoke with pride on how his own close relationship with his family doctor allowed him to “pull his relations onto the boat”, so to speak, where his niece, niece’s boyfriend, and niece’s boyfriends parents were accepted after an interview. An interview!
On a more general note, Philpott reflects that there is only so much an individual healthcare worker can do. The burnout we see in healthcare right now and the packed emergency are all symptoms of a system that needs a major reform rather than bandaids here and there.
There is some critique that the author still only sets an overarching skeleton without worrying about the details and necessary headaches of implementation. Overall though, I think she brings a clear and ambitious vision that is quite refreshing, and a realistic but hopeful view on what a government can do for the healthcare system.
Short and solid 4/5
Since I’ve been old enough to care, elections have always seemed like some sort of high stakes reality show, with one politician throwing insults at the other and competing for who gets to sit in the chair for the next four years. And much like many high school student council elections, it often seems like more of a means to an end rather than a true desire to use the platform to carry out a vision. Isn’t it odd when you start thinking “who do I dislike less” rather than “whose vision resonates with me?”
In this book, Philpott, a family doctor turned politician describes her experience in medicine and as Minister of Health. It feels (is?) current, with references to COVID and Justin Trudeau, and takes you into things from a perspective I’ve never looked into - what governments actually do with their time and money, with an emphasis on healthcare. In addition, it makes me reflect why I didn’t pay more attention to it.
A rather practical guide, she outlines her vision for a primary care as a school execution. That is, much like every child has a school, every person should have a primary care “home” where they can rely on as a go-to for all things healthcare. They shouldn’t be struggling to find appointments with their own family doctors and juggling lengthy referrals with incompatible specialists, or sitting unattached in a packed emergency room as many without family doctors in Canada do right now. I’ve had a family doctor my whole life, and I didn’t even realize I was lucky until this year. I remember talking with someone, noticing she seemed visibly distraught one day. When I asked her what was wrong, she laughed in a wry way, admitting she was actually quite anxious after learning she might be removed from her family doctor after violating policy and visiting walk ins without notice several times. The irony of this worry and its legitimacy was humbling. When the topic was brought up, a family friend spoke with pride on how his own close relationship with his family doctor allowed him to “pull his relations onto the boat”, so to speak, where his niece, niece’s boyfriend, and niece’s boyfriends parents were accepted after an interview. An interview!
On a more general note, Philpott reflects that there is only so much an individual healthcare worker can do. The burnout we see in healthcare right now and the packed emergency are all symptoms of a system that needs a major reform rather than bandaids here and there.
There is some critique that the author still only sets an overarching skeleton without worrying about the details and necessary headaches of implementation. Overall though, I think she brings a clear and ambitious vision that is quite refreshing, and a realistic but hopeful view on what a government can do for the healthcare system.
Short and solid 4/5
December 13, 2025
After reading this, I feel inspired to do what I can to contribute, even in a small way, to Canada achieving the vision outlined by Philpott. My inspiration comes not only from her seemingly utopian description of what we could have if we achieve it, but also her terrifying warning of what we will be left with if we don’t take action.
What was missing for me in this, however, was accountability on Philpott’s part in terms of what she could have done differently while federal Minister of Health to move Canada towards her vision. She notes that most of the power lies with the provincial governments, but she also emphasizes that the federal government has power too. I would have liked to hear more from her about what she achieved during her time as health minister and what obstacles she faced that hindered her efforts. She encourages voters to elect officials who will prioritize this idea of “health for all”, but in my opinion left a huge gap where she could have provided guidance to future government leaders on how to make a tangible impact where she wasn’t able to.
What was missing for me in this, however, was accountability on Philpott’s part in terms of what she could have done differently while federal Minister of Health to move Canada towards her vision. She notes that most of the power lies with the provincial governments, but she also emphasizes that the federal government has power too. I would have liked to hear more from her about what she achieved during her time as health minister and what obstacles she faced that hindered her efforts. She encourages voters to elect officials who will prioritize this idea of “health for all”, but in my opinion left a huge gap where she could have provided guidance to future government leaders on how to make a tangible impact where she wasn’t able to.
February 7, 2025
4.4 stars!
This felt like a must read given my job in the healthcare system, and Jane did not disappoint. Though I hear about the problems in healthcare delivery everyday and have a high level of knowledge about the gaps in primary care delivery, hearing it directly from a physician with decades of experience who was also the Minister of Health for Canada provides insight that is informed and provides a unique system-level view. I think every Canadian can gain something from this book.
Since it’s written for a general audience, how to implement change is vague. I also wished she spent more time talking about her role in enabling universal primary care through policy while she was Minister. I would have loved that level of detail to see how I can bring that to my role.
This felt like a must read given my job in the healthcare system, and Jane did not disappoint. Though I hear about the problems in healthcare delivery everyday and have a high level of knowledge about the gaps in primary care delivery, hearing it directly from a physician with decades of experience who was also the Minister of Health for Canada provides insight that is informed and provides a unique system-level view. I think every Canadian can gain something from this book.
Since it’s written for a general audience, how to implement change is vague. I also wished she spent more time talking about her role in enabling universal primary care through policy while she was Minister. I would have loved that level of detail to see how I can bring that to my role.
January 31, 2025
I don't know how not to rank a book like this highly. Such an important topic and one that I am extremely passionate about. This quote really resonates with me; "Medicine is a social science and politics is nothing else but medicine on a large scale." - Rudolph Virchow.
November 16, 2024
« Without health, little else matters. Without health for all, everyone suffers. » An articulate expression of Jane Philpott’s vision and journey. The transferable skills for other professions are exceptional. It is profound, personal, and persuasive. A must read for all!
December 5, 2024
So incredibly inspiring. Philpott does an incredible job at detailing the multidimensional influences that impact our (crumbling) primary care system. I enjoyed the personal commentary intertwined seamlessly with practical action steps towards health for all.
January 14, 2025
3.75 - some inspiring stories and great food for thought. A bit heavy on the policy/ politics for me personally, but a good read nontheless.
March 16, 2025
A great book on the future of Canadian health policies - covers important topics such as primary health care, indigenous health policies, and safe injection sites. Jane Philpott's personal story and commitment towards health, equity and empathetic leadership is definitely something I'll be thinking about while heading to the polls this year.
June 5, 2024
As a medical student and aspiring family physician, I feel like reading this book didn’t necessarily add any new information to what I already know about our crumbling healthcare system and the changes we can and should implement to revitalize and improve it. However, to someone who is not in the healthcare space, I highly recommend reading this book to gain a deeper understanding of why the Canadian health system is on the brink of collapse and exactly what changes the government needs to make to help it not only survive but thrive.
4.5 stars rounded up!
4.5 stars rounded up!
December 24, 2024
She’s right. Everyone read this book. And vote with healthcare in mind
March 9, 2025
A necessary look at the state of Canadian health care, and some great ideas about where it should go from here.
May 11, 2025
Good analysis of family medicine in Canada and an interesting proposal for future primary care delivery based on postal codes
Some emphasis on religion in the middle of the book that I just didn’t relate to, but generally enjoyed this!
Some emphasis on religion in the middle of the book that I just didn’t relate to, but generally enjoyed this!
July 10, 2024
Eminently sensible ideas for reforming health care in Canada. The only problem is that our governments are taking a turn towards privatization and user pay. So I wonder if these ideas might make it to the table.
March 12, 2025
Excellent analysis of our health care system with proposed fixes offered to anyone brave enough to step up and ensure we all have access to primary care.
December 30, 2024
The health sci student in me LOVED this book! Such an important message about the need to reform our healthcare and political systems in Canada.
March 8, 2025
I learned a lot and felt inspired but was disappointed there was no discussion of the role nature plays in health and well-being, and how access to greenspace is a critical component of front-end solutions to the health crisis.
paused
May 17, 2024In progress... finished part 1 and ready to start part 2
April 20, 2024
Part memoir, part prescription from one of Canada’s most highly respected health professionals (or politicians for that matter)
I enjoyed reading about her experiences in Africa which was a huge influence on her subsequent career. On the other hand, that and other anecdotes were not really speaking specifically to her suggestions regarding Canada’s issues with health care.
Dr Philpott is a remarkable woman and I hope her impact on Canada’s health care system is far from over. The book is more memoir than working document but if that’s what you are looking for, it’s very good.
I enjoyed reading about her experiences in Africa which was a huge influence on her subsequent career. On the other hand, that and other anecdotes were not really speaking specifically to her suggestions regarding Canada’s issues with health care.
Dr Philpott is a remarkable woman and I hope her impact on Canada’s health care system is far from over. The book is more memoir than working document but if that’s what you are looking for, it’s very good.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews