n. & adj. — Administration, Law
a government-sponsored insurance program providing medical care for all residents.
Type: 4. Culturally Significant — Universal health care was adopted in 1966 with the passing of the Medical Care Act. The concept has since become "enshrined" into the collective Canadian consciousness (see the 2015 quotation) and is considered one of the most distinct markers of Canadian identity (see, e.g. the 2008 quotation from a CBC radio discussion).
The federal health care scheme derives from the provincial insurance plan developed in Saskatchewan, which was introduced in 1962 by then-premier Tommy Douglas against fierce resistance from the province's doctors. Then known as medicare (see the link below for details), the most widespread term for the concept today is universal health care or just "health care", which as the default option is, when needed, pitted against "private health care", which is not paid for by the public insurance scheme.
COD-2 does not list the term; it includes "health care" as a concept, but without mentioning a Canadian dimension.