Universal Health Care System

The purpose of this paper is to compare the Canadian and the United States health care system. the first part of the paper will focus on describing each country health care system. The second part will focus on analyzing, evaluating and comparing these two countries system efficiency and benefits. The last part, is an overview of the recent policies changes and its effect (positive and negative) on each country citizens and proposed future reforms for better coverage in these countries.

What would you say when I told you that if you look at a list of the worlds developed industrialized nations that there is only one developed country in the world that doesn’t have a universal healthcare system. Some of the countries on this list include Japan, Germany, and even Canada. The United States, a global power, our home and the world’s largest economy is the only westernized industrial country without universal healthcare. The amount of people dying due to a lack of medical coverage is at an all-time high, while the U.S also has the most expensive healthcare system in the world for its citizens. According to Toni Johnson, author of the article “Healthcare Costs and U.S Competiveness” “The United States spends an estimated $2 trillion annually on healthcare expenses, more than any other industrialized country. According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United States spends two-and-a-half times more than the OECD average, and yet ranks with Turkey and Mexico as the only OECD countries without universal health coverage.” (Johnson) For a country that spends so much it seems strange we do not even offer the best health care in the world. It also seems even stranger that there are over 45 million Americans who are going without health insurance. (Johnson) Universal health care is defined as a basic guarantee of health care to all its

America has a very disorganized and fragmented healthcare system while Canada has a very structured and established system. Since there is no healthcare system in the world that is considered perfect all countries implement polices that they believe will be the most beneficial for their residents, The United States’ and Canada’s systems are both constantly being reformed to fit the current needs their residents however there are strengths and weaknesses for both of the systems.

world, the American health system has long been plagued with high costs and inefficiency as a

An analysis of the US and Canada’s systems reveals advantages and drawbacks within each structure. While it is apparent that both countries could benefit from the adoption of portions of the

The term “complex” is defined in the dictionary as “a very complicated or involved arrangement of parts, units, etc.., which is complicated or intricate as to be hard to understand or deal with.” The healthcare system has proven to be the most complex industry on a global scale, as it continuously challenges nations to mobilize and strategize a more cost efficient and quality driven health care system. Healthcare is an essential part of life in which all individuals take advantage of with or without insurance coverage. Consequently, healthcare costs is the largest global expense, causing nations to revolutionize their health systems in efforts to contain cost. Developed countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom have focalized on universal health systems tailored to their needs to contain healthcare costs. Although universal health systems are idealistic for the government and its citizens, quality and access of care is a continuous issue. Before discussing the problems related to universal health systems, we must first understand the benefits of both (Canada and United Kingdom) systems. After analyzing the pros and cons of these systems, we will then analyze the U.S. and their efforts to contain healthcare costs with the Affordable Care Act, and if transitioning to a universal health care system would be beneficial to our economy.

Proponents of Medicare state that with a single-payer system equity is more attainable than in a system that depends on a person’s ability to pay as in the US. However, a study done by O’Neill and O’Neill found that Canada actually has a higher “health income gradient” than in the US (2007). Many believe that this inequity is due to the ambiguity surrounding the Act’s term “medically necessary” that has never been clearly defined. Thus, each province controls what is deemed “medically necessary” causing ten different benefits packages and increased inequity. Other liabilities include: a lack of funding for hospitals, insufficient healthcare resources (such as surgeons, MRI and CT scanners), a short supply of family doctors, and a halt in technological innovation. When compared to the US, Canada spends around half as much on investment in medical facilities and around a third as much on technology investments (“US Health Care VS. France, UK, Canada”). Also, in most provinces acquiring a family doctor occurs through a lottery system (ABC report). These disadvantages are the basis for the various recommendations for policy reform.

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).

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.

. The United States incorporates both public and private health insurance facilitated to citizens by way of employers, at the employer’s discretion, or public resource programs. Those individuals who do not qualify or can’t afford health care are categorized as uninsured, creating ethical and economic dilemmas in result of the structure of government and policies. Consumers in the United States are dissatisfied with the health care system because of these implications compared to the Canadian health care system that differs from the United States. Canada has a national health insurance program NHI where government has established that health insurance coverage is universal (Ridic, Gleason, & Ridic, 2012). Through government

The country of Canada has a dynamic health care system which functions as a publicly-funded, single-payer system. Health care in the country is commonly referred to as Medicare, with spending decisions regarding it being made at the provincial level. In the system, the Canadian government pays for over 70% of total health care which allows for universal health care to be provided to Canadian citizens (“Exploring the 70/30 Split…,” 2005). As a result, citizens do not have to pay out of pocket for health care. Due to factors such as the aforementioned, it is plausible to reason why a plurality of Canadians are satisfied with their health care system. Nevertheless, there are issues present in the system, such as patient wait times, that need

Last, another contributing factor to high costs in the United States is the administrative costs associated to healthcare. The United States have significantly higher administrative costs compared to the rest of the world (McKay, Lemak, & Lovett, 2008). Hospital costs are extremely

The U.S. health care system is the subject of much differentiating debates. On one side we have those who argue that Americans have the “best health care system in the world”, pointing to our freely available medical technology and state-of-the-art facilities that have become so highly symbolic of its system. On the hand we have those who criticize the American system as being fragmented and inefficient, pointing to the fact that America spends more on health care than any other country in the world yet still suffers from massive un-insurance, uneven quality, and administrative waste. Understanding the debate between these two diametrically opposed viewpoints requires a basic understanding of the structure of the U.S. health care system.

Canadian health care model is founded on the universal access and coverage with zero cost at the point of delivery. Canada Health Act 1984 relies on federal spending powers to establish a Canada-wide, publicly funded health care system that bases patients’ access to health care services on need, not on the ability to pay. Universality and accessibility are among the major

We as Canadians are very blessed when it comes to have our health care system when compared with the U.S. Canada has a single-pay mostly funded system while the U.S has a multi-payer, private system. Canadian health care is universal and is guaranteed for all citizens, but in America there about 50 million people that are uninsured. In 2013 Canada’s life expectancy was 81 years and the infant mortality rate was 5 deaths/1000 live births, while the U.S was at the bottom in infant mortality and life expectancy. In 2012 the gross domestic product (GDP) for Canada was 10.4 % and the GDP in the U.S was 16%, meaning the U.S spent more on health care than Canada. One pro of the U.S health care system is that there are not long waits, in Canada non-emergency surgery