Basic Health Services coverage, available to all Albertans, pays for all medically required services provided by physicians and selected allied health services such as oral and dental surgeons, chiropractors, optometrists and podiatrists. There is a monthly premium for this coverage. Extended Health Benefits, to help pay for dental care and eyeglasses, is available at no cost to residents aged 65 and older, their spouses and dependents, as well to widows and widowers aged 55 to 64 years receiving the Alberta Widows' Pension and their dependents. Alberta Blue Cross Non-Group Coverage, a supplemental health insurance plan for pharmaceuticals, and other selected health services, is provided at no cost to seniors and Widows' Pension recipients and their dependents.
Individual coverage is subject to a monthly premium.
Data are also broken down by health region, where feasible. Information on these areas can be obtained in the Alberta Ministry of Health Annual Report 1997-98 . These tables are broken down by method of premium collection and subsidy levels, and by age and gender. For the 1997-98 Statistical Supplement , actual expenditures rather than percentage distributions were provided. This has required us to show negative payment and service values.