Introduction – The Future Role of Health Law and Medicare: The Holy Grail of Access, Quality, and Sustainability

How is the future performance of our health care system tied to the future of health law?Health policy scholars frequently enumerate three key health system goals: improved access to health care services, appropriate quality of care, and ensuring the sustainability of public medicare through cost control.This triumvirate is sometimes referred to as the "iron triangle" 1 because its three goals can be in tension with one another; such as when efforts aimed at improving access or making health care safer result in increased costs.Law is deeply implicated in this balancing act.For example, the recognition of a legal "right" to health care may improve access but create sustainability challenges for public plans.Similarly, while stringent regulations may improve the safety of pharmaceuticals, this comes with increased regulatory costs and may delay patient access to life-saving medication.To help provide a greater understanding of the role of law vis-à-vis the health care system, the University of Ottawa Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics brought together leading health law experts from across Canada and abroad, including several colleagues from the University of Alberta's Faculty of Law, for the seventh National Health Law Conference on the theme "The Future of Health Law."Several of the articles presented at this November 2015 conference appear in this publication, along with a forthcoming issue of the McGill Journal of Law and Health and recent issues of the Dalhousie Law Journal 2 and the Ottawa Law Review.3 Although these articles explore a diverse array of topics -reproduction, mental health, patient safety, Aboriginal health, end-of-life care, and migrant health -each one illuminates how the future of health law impacts the "iron triangle."