The Formation Of Canada 's Health Care System

Canada is uniquely known for having a universal healthcare system that is publicly funded and administered on a provincial and territorial basis and is monitored by federal standards. (“Canada Health Act Annual Report,” 2013) The Canada Health Act sets out criteria and that the provinces must must follow in order to receive their federal transfer payments as stated in the Hospital and Diagnostic Services Act of 1957. Public Administration requires provincial and territorial health insurance plans to be run on a non profit basis and by a public agency, in other words, a single payer. Comprehensiveness states that all medically necessary services will be covered by public health insurance. Universality means that all Canadians

While many may argue that the Canadian health care system provides equal treatment to every Canadian, evidence shows that this is not the case. There are major discrepancies within the system regarding Indigenous people that need to be addressed including several factors such as: housing issues, stereotypes Aboriginals face and the lack of Aboriginal doctors.

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.

Canadians often find a great source of pride in our health care system because it is “free”. When living next to a country that loudly boasts about its freedom and other such aspects, it is hard to stand out on a global level. That is why most citizens are misguided when they try to compare our health system to that of the United States. Indeed, if you look at the facts, we do have a better system but it is quite irrelevant to compare the two since we are both organized and financed differently. The United States spends more money on their system but does not reap the benefits that more money should offer. Often, the only gain from the comparison is a political one. The federal government’s as well as the provincial governments’ funding has lead to the provinces being too hospital heavy, meaning that there aren 't enough low cost/more efficient facilities in existence such as long-term care facilities, which causes more patients to go to the hospital, which in turn causes more money to be spent than if the patient had been able to go elsewhere. Two key reasons why our health care system is so expensive are the cost of the drugs and the compensation that doctors receive. In order to keep up with the rising cost of our health care, Dalton McGuinty privatized services like physiotherapy and optometry and, “…Also froze the budgets of twelve departments other than health. There was the classic health-care spending trifecta: higher

The health care system of a country like Canada's must be strong and stable enough to support all of its members. By witnessing the suffering of Saskatchewan's citizens first hand, Douglas realized the lack of a healthcare system was negatively impacting the people. After this, the Medicare plan was made. Looking through the Structural Functionalist lens, it states that a complex society must work together in order to produce solidarity and stability, which is what every country, province or institution wants. Healthcare for everyone meant higher taxes for everyone as well, but it also meant seemingly free and equal healthcare for everyone. All citizens paying taxes in order to help each other is a great example of Structural Functionalism.

Historically, the focus of the healthcare system was on treating symptoms and using a ‘Band-Aid approach’ as the primary method of patient care. The current Canadian health-care system is moving from this approach, to a more holistic ideal of healthcare which encompasses all the determinants of health. Although each determinant of health may individually have effects on health, all are interrelated to create a web of elements that form the principles of our physical and mental health (Potter and Perry, 2014 p. 10). Two such determinants of health are social environment, and healthy child development. These two create a cyclical relationship so, if negative, they can have destructive effects on the general health of an individual and those in acquaintance or familiar with them.

The birth of Medicare was in Saskatchewan on July 1, 1962. Medicare was the first government controlled, comprehensive, universal single payer medical insurance plan in Canada. Many insurance industries and all the medical institutions were against the idea of having Medicare. They feared that Medicare will become popular and will spread across the globe. Once the plan was successful all of Canada was protected by a medical insurance system that was based on the Saskatchewan plan and no politician would be allowed to openly oppose it. In addition, the Canadian health care system is a group of socialized health insurance plan that covers the medical costs of all Canadian citizens. The Canadian health care system is publicly subsidized and overseen on a Provincial and or territorial basis, within guidelines set by the Federal government. Canadian citizens are protected under the health care system, for their medical treatments from primary care physicians, access to hospitals, and additional medical services. Every Canadian citizen qualifies for health care coverage regardless of their income, lifestyle, and medical history. Although Canadians are protected for a portion of their health care there are still many services that are not protected under the health care system, such as dental services, prescription medication, and optometrists.

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 an overview of Canadian poll surveying public opinion on their universal health care system, 88% of Canadians reported their value for a strong, national, and publically funded health system (Mendelsohn, 2002). Canada is one of the four nations that provide their populations with access to medical services through their universal health care system of 1984 (Bodenheimer & Grumbach, 2008). The Canadian health care system is unique in that it prohibits the private health insurance coverage for the fundamental services that are provided by the Canada Health Act; private insurance can be used as a supplement for services that are either partially covered or not covered under the universal health insurance (Steinbrook, 2006). Conversely, in the American health care system there isn’t a universal health coverage for the nation, but rather four different means of paying for health care which includes patient paying out of pocket for individual payments, individual private insurance, employment-based health insurance, and governmental supporting funding (Bodenheimer & Grumbach, 2008).

Every countries’ governments seek to deliver high quality health care and reasonable cost to all citizens. However, all nations have not equality health care service and reasonable cost. Canada government provides equality health care services and public facilities to the citizens. However, Canada Health Care System has been the subject of controversies compared to the United States Health Care System. Some people may agree with the idea because people should not wait longer for surgeries or examinations, patients have high quality of medical and better services. However, if change the health care system, Canada government cannot intervene to health care system, Canada citizens pay higher medical cost and do not get equality services.

The Canadian health system aims to provide equal health for all and although in recent years, general healthcare services to Aboriginal peoples have improved, Aboriginal peoples still experience poorer health outcomes than non-Aboriginal Canadians (Kowpak & Gillis, 2015). The health challenges faced by Canadian Aboriginal peoples are unique and complex (Richardson, Driedger, Pizzi, Wu, & Moghadas, 2012), especially as an outsider therefore the need to understand Aboriginal health from their perspective. Hence, in community and population health profession, knowledge of Aboriginal health increases the understanding of the underlying causes of health disparity and poor health among Aboriginal peoples. Aboriginal health knowledge is beneficial

Chapter 10 Cracks in the foundation: The origins and development of the canadian and american health care system

Canada’s health care system is one that formed in the 1950s and 60s, also known as Medicare. It is a system that Canada as a nation often takes pride in, as it is predominantly public with basic health care is available to all citizens, and has some aspects of the private system incorporated as well. Health care often occurs in terms that compare public versus private health care systems. After a thorough analysis of private health care associated with neo-conservatism, and public health care associated with welfare state liberalism, I assert that the more beneficial option for Canada would be public health care. Public health care is very accessible, and universal, therefore allowing the individual to have access to health care nation-wide. As well, it is significantly more affordable than private health care when concerning the average Canadian citizen. Although, it can be argued that private healthcare is a better option for Canada because it would improve the quality of health care, offering quicker access it, and it reduces the amount of stress put on the upper class in paying for public health care. However, privatization acts as a barrier to providing universal and quality health care on an equitable basis.

The Canada Health Act is a federal legislation enacted in 1984, delineating the terms of the Canadian universal health care system and what provinces must comply with in order to receive federal funding. It is important to point out that, although some of the funding and policies regulating the nation’s health care are provided by the federal government, it does not constitute a one-size-fits-all approach. Each of Canada’s ten provinces has the authority to regulate health care within their own jurisdiction; therefore, what’s efficient in one section of the country is not necessarily how things are done on the other side of the country. This essay focuses on general applicable principles which have been common denominators when it comes to discussing Canada’s health care system.

Healthcare systems and policies are the organizational frameworks that reflect and support the health goals of populations to optimize patient care. The Canadian Health Care System has a long history of improving and refining existing legislations in order to meet the dynamic needs of the population. However, a current and notable barrier to access healthcare resources for individuals is drug costs, with 22% of total Canadian prescription drug costs being paid out of pocket by patients (1,2). In response, the Government of Ontario plans to implement Ontario Health Insurance Plan Plus (OHIP+) effective January 1, 2018 as a means of alleviating this financial barrier for a portion of population that meet certain criteria. OHIP+ aims to