A Look at The North American Healthcare System
Kailey Haskell
100584034
Professor Matthew Stein
SSCI 1200U: Introduction to Social Policy
Healthcare in the United States of America is very controversial, and viewed in many different facets. Arguably, the biggest social problems Americans’ face in connection to healthcare are affordability and accessibility. While Canadians have provincial health insurance (in Ontario this is known as OHIP) – which covers most, if not all, life threatening illnesses and injuries, the USA widely relies on health insurance provided by employers, at least for the working, middle, and upper classes. Government provided health care is mostly provided to those who have extremely low income
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Canadians do have the option to use private health clinics, which favours those with higher income – because they can afford it, however unlike the United States of America, all Canadians have basic coverage provided by the government, which are paid for through taxes.
Some significant differences between provinces for healthcare include; “drug coverage, family doctors, dental care, wait times and efficiency”, as well as senior care. “There is no real clear provincial leader in the healthcare field. Some provinces who receive top rankings in one area could be dead last in another.” (http://www.seiuhealthcare.ca/comparing_provincial_healthcare_plans). Ontario ranges from being the best to somewhere in the high-middle for all of these areas, the only thing really lacking is nursing homes – “Ontario only beds 45 beds per 1,000 seniors over the age of 65.” The leading provinces in senior care are Manitoba with 60% and Saskatchewan with 50%, the lowest being Quebec, who only have 31 beds for 1000 senior citizens. Ontario is one of the best in dental care, while Quebec offers the least coverage. Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta are the best for keeping prescription drug prices low. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Ontario have the most
In America confidence in the health care system diminishes with aging. Americans believe that as they grow older, health care will be unaffordable to them. Seniors especially believe that once they depend on fixed budgets, that the American government will selectively rid them of attaining affordable health care. Just being able to afford their prescription drugs will be a situation where seniors will have to choose between food or medicine because of their decrease in household incomes. The one feature that is most effective in providing comprehensive health care in Canada is the participation of the government where citizens are completely covered for their health insurance. The best feature of health insurance in America is group health insurance. Group coverage normally offers the best benefits at a lower rate. The least effective feature of American health care is the cost of medical prescriptions and extended times of waiting to see the physicians. The least effective feature of Canada's medical health care system is also the lengthy time of waiting to see the physicians. Since most private health insurance companies in the US tell you which doctors to visit, specify which hospitals you may enter, this could be a deterrent to your treatment. In Canada this is not the case, if you are ill you may go to any hospital regardless of financial means or insurance coverage and get treated. Canadians and Americans found that increasing health care
Canada and the United States have quite a few differences in their healthcare status and healthcare services. Canada has a universal coverage, no financial barriers, more equitable, no coinsurance and unequal drug benefits and the health insurance plan is administered in each province by a public agency which operates on a non-profit basis and is responsible to the provincial government; whereas, the United States have some financial barriers, there is no universal public health insurance and access primarily depends on the type and extent of coverage, responsible for administering and controlling the health care system is diffused, and involves private insurers, employers, and federal, state and local governments. Infant mortality in both countries are similar and there is a small gap between the life expectancy between the two countries.
The Canadian healthcare system was first established in the late 1940’s and is made up of socialized health insurance plans that provide coverage to every Canadian citizen. Publicly funded and managed, rules are set forth by the federal government. In the 1960’s, Canada in essence, has had universal healthcare coverage for all services provided by physicians and hospitals. Change your source ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Canada 2014) Whereas, the healthcare system in America originated in the 1800’s, but truly wasn’t established until the late 1920’s. Healthcare in America was initially for teachers for a low cost in Dallas Texas by Justin Kimball. Change you source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/) Healthcare in the United States is mostly privately funded with only a few publicly funded entities such as Medicare and Medicaid. The Canadian and U.S. healthcare system s have been under a lot of scrutiny over the years, being the topic of every political conversation. In this essay, I will write about the main differences between the U.S and Canadian Health-care system, and help shed some light on how each system works. The main points I will be discussing are the wait times to see a primary care physician, the funding of each countries health care system, accessibility to medical care and the quality of care.
Canada 's healthcare system is praised globally for its universal and free healthcare. It started to take shape after World War II in 1945. Health insurance was introduced and was attempted, but was not successful even though there was an increase in the spending of health related services and goods. Fast forward a few years to 1961 where Tommy Douglas, the premier of Saskatchewan, developed the idea for an all-inclusive insurance plan. He later inspired the Medical Care Act in Canada in 1967, when he pointed out health care is a right for all Canadians. From this one thought, Canada has become of the many countries with a universal health care system. Ever since Tommy Douglas sparked the idea for health care coverage, Canada is praised for the way it carries out its system because of several key features. This system is publically funded, is universal and is accessible to everyone across the nation. Because this is a public system, funding comes from the tax payers and some federal funding, so there is no extra cost for the patients. Also, being a universal system it has offered care to all Canadians, immigrants and visitors. Unlike the U.S who does not provide healthcare to its entire population because it is a private system; access depends on how much someone could afford, and how
Health care is an essential service needed by citizens. As a result, the government plays an important role by designing an appropriate health care system for its citizens. In this paper, a comparison between the health care system in the U.S. and Canada has been made. Using various literary sources, the comparison has been done considering the four components of health care services delivery; financing, insurance, delivery, and payment. The findings indicate that the health care system in the U.S. is expensive but more efficient than the single-payer health care system in Canada.
In Canada, although private insurance companies exist they are not allowed to cover services provided under provincial plans. In each province only one public insurance entity is responsible for reimbursing hospitals and physicians. Patients are free to choose their physicians, but they do not
Obamacare, Medicare, universal, privatized, public, parallel; these healthcare systems (HCS) may sound a little confusing and scary for a person who values their health and the health of their family. In the United States of America, there are several different options of health coverage to choose from: health insurance for people with disabilities, long term care insurance, traditional-fee-for-service, and preferred provider organization, this is just naming a few (USA.org, 2017). With all these choices, how do you know which one is the best for you and your family? Usa.org emphasizes that several questions must be considered when choosing a healthcare provider: Are there any deductibles? Can I see any doctors or go to any hospital? Will all medications be covered that the doctor prescribes? Again, seems confusing, right! Therefore, Canada's HCS is based on the patients' needs and not what they can afford (Government of Canada, 2012). Although Canada's HCS is widely known for their universal coverage, many Canadian citizens have various concerns; one being excessive wait times.
91% of hospital and 99% of physician services are funded by the public sector. Ophthalmology and dental services account for most of the private expenditures in Canada. In Canada, nearly 5% of citizens do not have a family doctor, but every Canadian citizen is covered by the national health care system. The United States has a mixed public-private system with about 45 million Americans being uninsured at any given point of time. In the US, under the Affordable Care Act, most health plans must cover most preventive services without copayments or deductibles. In the US, direct government funding is limited to Medicare, Medicaid, State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Vetarans Health Administration (VHA) and Military Health Service (MHS). A study shows nearly 44,000 Americans die each year because
While doing our research, which for myself started on November 13th, I learned many new things about our healthcare system. It is common knowledge in Canada that our healthcare system - also known as medicare - is social. The Canadian Healthcare System is a group of socialized healthcare insurance plans that provides coverage of all Canadians, regardless of who they are or what their socioeconomic status is. Healthcare in Canada is paid through taxes (publicly funded) and administered on a provincial or territorial basis.
Over the past decade there has been a major debate over healthcare reform across the globe, including Canada. The Canadian health care system is called Medicare and can be described as a single-payer system. In essence, the majority of Canadians receive health care through a publicly funded system that consists of federal transfers to the ten provincial governments who then decided how the money is to be allocated in conjunction with the federal health care standards. These standards were set by the Canada Health Act of 1985 (henceforth “the Act”), which states that each province must adhere to the Act’s five main principles in order to receive funding; these principles include: universal coverage for all medically necessary care,
According to the article Healthcare in Canada, Canada has a mixed system that provides free and equal health care to all Canadians through taxation, but you can also pay for
Canada has ten provinces; each province established its health care system. Canada has the health care delivery system of each region; each sector developed various roles in providing and funding the health care services (Makarenko,2010).
Health care in the United States has been an ongoing dispute and a major concern to all involved from the provider to the consumer. There have been other countries who have a demonstrated success in providing better health care practices at an economical cost for providers and consumers. Currently the United States spends more per person on health care comparatively speaking to other countries. Perhaps taking a looking at what has worked for other counties and their current health care system will benefit the United States Affordable Care Act in adopting the best practices to deliver a health care system that actually works for all involved. Thus far there are three systems that have a proven track record respectively, Canada’s - National Health Insurance (NHI), Great Britain’s - National Health System (NHS), and Germany’s - Socialized Health Insurance (SHIS), examining each of these systems can provide useable information for the United States.
When a Canadian citizen goes to the hospital to seek medical attention, there is no question about being able to pay or if the patient has insurance. Rather, if the patient needs care, it is provided. The healthcare system in Canada consists of universal coverage for medically necessary health care services (Health Canada, 2012b). For this to run effectively, the system is maintained by both the federal and provincial government to ensure that all Canadians are receiving the same standard of care.
Health care in Canada is delivered through a publicly funded health care system called Medicare, which is a universal coverage, single payer plan for all Canadians and legal residents. This health insurance pays up to 70% of all medicals costs excluding dental, eye care and medications, which is covered by private sectors. The current health care policy is guided by the provisions of the Canada Health Act 1984. Approximately 99% of physicians’ service costs and 90% of hospital care are covered by publicly funded program. Historically, Canada’s health system was dated back to 1867 when the British North American Act was passed, which gave federal government the responsibility to take care of marine hospitals and quarantine. As for the provinces, its responsibility is to manage the local hospitals, asylums, charities and other charitable organizations. To compare with the United States of America, the American government does not have a single payer program, which results in a somewhat less efficient healthcare system. Health care facilities are largely owned and operated by private sector businesses. 58% of US community hospitals are non-profit, 21% are government owned, and 21% are for-profit.