A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

Canada’s healthcare system started in 1946 and is made up of a group of socialized health insurance plans that provides coverage to all Canadian citizens. It is publicly funded and administered on a provincial or territorial basis with in the rules set by their federal government. Since the late 1960’s Canada essential has had a universal health insurance system covering all services provided by physicians and hospitals. In 1966 Lester B Pearson’s government subsequently expanded a policy of the universal healthcare with the medical care act. Canada’s healthcare system is the subject of political controversy and debate in the country. While healthcare in America began in the late 1800’s but was truly born in 1929 when Justin Kimball introduced low cost healthcare to teachers in Dallas. Healthcare in the US is mostly privately funded but we do have a few publicly funded entities, such as Medicare and Medicaid.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

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By 1971, all Canadians were guaranteed access important medical services regardless of income, employment, or health. Canada has one of the highest life expectancies and he lowest infant mortality rates of industrialized countries, which many attribute to Canada’s health care system. In 1984, the Canada Health Act was passed. This act added provisions that prohibited extra billing and user fees for covered services. To support the ten year plan, the federal government increased health care to the Canada Health Transfer from 2006-2007 until 2013-2014 to provide growth in federal funding. On the other end the United states private for profit insurers based our premiums on age, gender, health status, and pre-existing conditions only covering the healthiest people and avoiding the sickest individuals A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

Introduction

The health care system in the United States has been a subject of criticism in terms of its effectiveness in the delivery. Arguably, the Canadian health care system model best suits the United States health care requirements. The United States and Canada had similar health care systems before the Canada opted to reform its health care policies during the 1960s and 70s. Presently, the health care systems in the two countries are quite different, with the Canadian health care system consisting of a single payer, which is majorly publicly funded (Busby, 2011). The health care system in the United States is a multi-payer system, which is mostly privately funded. The cultural orientations of both countries are somewhat similar which implies that the effective Canadian health care system can be applied in the US and yield similar results. This essay attempts to compare the health care systems in the United States and Canada basing on access and coverage, cost, quality and continuity.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

In terms of access to health care and coverage, the Canadian health care system is more efficient compared to the US health care system. This can be attributed to the fact that Canada offers universal health care access to its citizens, contrary to the US. Furthermore, it is revealed that approximately 40 per cent of the United States citizens do not have access to health care insurance schemes. Studies further depict that one out of every five non-elderly US citizens are not insured in terms of health care, considering the fact that the US health care system is mostly privately funded. It is evident that the federal government of the US has no provisions for universal access to health care, contrary to the Canadian health care plans whereby the Canadian government assures its citizens of universal access to health care and associated facilities (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2011). Although access to health care system in both countries is still problematic, the worst-case scenario is in the US. The publicly funded health care plans in the US account for a small percentage of the US population, mostly being the disabled persons, individuals below the federal poverty line and the children. The limitation is that the publicly funded healthcare schemes can not cater for serious health conditions and ailments.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

Majority of Canada’s health care systems are publicly funded, accounting to approximately 70 per cent; this plays a prominent deal in ensuring universal access to health plans in Canada. Approximately 90 percent of the healthcare expenditure in Canada is publicly funded. Although the governments of both countries are closely involved in the healthcare plans, the key difference is in terms of healthcare insurance pans. The Canadian government is fully responsible for the regulation of the healthcare insurance plans. In addition, it has provisions for offering support in terms of healthcare expenditures. The Canadian healthcare system also provides a public coverage in the private health care delivery. In the US, Medicaid, Medicare and the State Children Health Insurance Program are the only programs which are publicly funded (SCHIP).A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

In terms of cost, the federal government of the US invests more funds in the healthcare sector compared to Canada, in terms of per capita and on the basis of Gross Domestic Product. As a result of public funding of the health care system in Canada, health care costs in Canada are catered for through business and personal tax collections that are paid to the provincial governments and the federal government (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2011). Premium payments are also used to settle healthcare expenses for individuals who are financially capable of subscribing to the premium contributions. Research studies investigating the correlation between the health care status and the levels of the personal income in individuals, in the two countries; have revealed that the health income-gradient seems to be more predominant in Canada compared to the United States probably due to relatively low costs of accessing health care in Canada. The high involvement of the private sector in the healthcare sector and the lack of regulation of the healthcare insurance sector in the US have made accessing healthcare services be more costly in the US than in Canada.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

In terms of the quality of the healthcare system, Canadians are reported to be healthier compared to the US citizens. Health statistics depict that parameters such as life expectancy, infant mortality and death rate are in favor of the outcome of the Canadian healthcare system (Krauss, 2010). It can be inferred that the healthcare system of Canada is more effective in terms of quality and delivery compared to the US healthcare system prior to the new health care laws. Studies have indicated that health outcomes in relation to Canadian patients is superior compared to US; this implies that the quality of healthcare in Canada is high compared to US. The healthcare quality is also determined by factors such as wait times and equitable distribution of health resources. The wait times in the US is longer compared to the wait times in the Canadian healthcare facilities. The availability of healthcare facilities is determined by the distribution of resources among the health care facilities. In the US, there is no equitable distribution of resources in the healthcare facilities, contrary to Canada (Krauss, 2010).A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

The Canadian health care system began in 1946 and consists of a group of social health insurance schemes that provide insurance to all Canadian citizens. It is publicly funded and managed in the state or region according to the rules established by the federal government. Since the late 1960’s Canadian mandatory health insurance system has covered all services provided by doctors and hospitals. In 1966, the Leicester B Pearson government expanded its universal health policy through medical bills.

Medical care is one of the most expensive projects of both countries’ budget. In the United States, per capita expenditure at all government levels is higher than Canada’s government expenditure. Canadian government expenditure in 2004 was $ 2120 per person (US dollar) and US government expenditure was $ 2,724. According to the report of 1999, after excluding, the manager occupied 31.0% of the medical expenses of the United States, accounting for 16.7% of Canada. Investigating the insurance business, in Canada, sales of state single-payer insurance systems are 1.3%, personal insurance costs (13.2%), American private insurance premiums (11.7%), and US Medicare and Medicaid program management There was a commission. More advantageous. (3.6% and 6.8% respectively)A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

Critics of the US healthcare system use this comparison to prove that the US is inefficient. They point out that some countries (Canada, France, and Japan etc.) paying lower medical expenses have a higher average life expectancy. As in many other countries, they sometimes say that relying on the government rather than private health insurance can reduce costs without adversely affecting health effects. Advocates of US healthcare systems that accept some reforms may reduce costs, but they feel that it is difficult to draw reliable conclusions from international comparisons. For example, the obesity rate in the United States is higher than the obesity rate in the other six countries in Figure 4. The higher the obesity rate, the longer the life expectancy, the higher the medical expenses.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

Basing on the above comparisons, it is arguably evident that the multi-payer health care system in the US which is dominated by the private sector is not as effective as the single-payer healthcare system in Canada, which is essentially publicly funded.

The truth about Universal healthcare in Canada being better than the healthcare system in the US is not only a case of the grass being greener on the other side, but it is the absolute reality about health care systems in the two neighboring countries. Truth be told, the United States spends more money in healthcare than Canada and the results are a lower life expectancy, higher mortality rate, more obese people and higher infant mortality rates (Redden, Candace Et al 74).A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay While some critics in the US think that the Canadian universal healthcare system is not as good as it is portrayed to be, it is obvious that Canada is a much healthier country. It is agreeable that much of the positive aspects regarding the country’s health issues are catered for by the universal health insurance and that if the United States would adopt the same approach, may be the deteriorating health of its people would stabilize.

The US is the only developed country that has let the control of medicine fall in the hands of the private enterprises. The private insurers control the market and are free to increase premiums if the risks are “justifiable. ” They are also under no obligation to keep citizens who cannot meet the insurance premiums. Worse still, to get a more wholesome cover, the individual citizens are required to pay extra premiums. While this continues to happens, the united State’s government continues spending more than 13. percent of its gross domestic product annually in healthcare. However, year after year, the deterioration continues and the US government has nothing to show for the increased spending. The medical fate of most United States citizens lies on the employers, who offer health insurance covers as part of the employment benefits. It is estimated that only 59 percent of the entire US resident have health insurance cover through their employers.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

Over the years though, and because of the tougher economic times experienced in the country recently, this rate has dropped significantly, therefore leaving many more Americans without health insurance cover. This leaves out major sections of the population such as the self employed, the retirees and the unemployed. The question raised is therefore; should the United States admit that its approach to healthcare has so far failed? Is it time that the country sought an alternative approach by emulating other countries? A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

The fact that Canada’s health system is superior to that of the US is no secret. Why else would the American’s envy the Canadian arrangement, while their Canadian counterparts, although agreeing that theirs is not a foolproof system, hate the US system so passionately. Some people may argue that it is a matter of perception. That analysis between health systems in the two countries has always favored the Canadian context. However, statistics are the only prove we need to justify that indeed the universal health insurance system in Canada has managed to keep Canadians much healthier.

A look at the principles that govern the Canadian health care system reveals that, the government makes a deliberate effort to serve the entire population based on five principles: non profit provision of health insurance services, provision of all necessary health services, serving the entire population, making the services accessible and ensuring that all jurisdictions across the country are covered (Turner, John, 105). From the above description and seeing that every Canadian national is catered for by the universal health insurance, one would expect that most doctors in Canada are employed by the state.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

However, this is not always the case. The governing laws however see to it that even the physicians on private practice do not pass on the cost burden to the citizenry. As such, private practicing physicians consulted by the citizenry, invoice the state for their services. This in turn ensures that the prices are regulated as the government can negotiate prices with the doctors (Turner 105). As always, the US is cautious about universal health care because as regular opinions would suggest, it is against America’s spirit of free enterprise.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

To the Americans, the idea of universal healthcare is enviable, but as every body knows, the devil is always in the details. Determining whether the United States should adopt a strategy where the government controls most hospitals or one where the government pays health providers for services provided to the citizenry is always a contentious issue (Herzlinger, Regina 142). While the indecision continues however, the citizenry continues to suffer because a significant percentage cannot afford private health insurance and therefore lack the ability to clear hospital bills.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

In the liberalized market represented by the United States systems, the more than 150 health care insurance providers lack comprehensive covers thus making healthcare even more costly for the people. In Canada, health providers just deal with one insurer, who in this case happens to the government. The government on the other hand is accountable to the citizenry. Should the level of healthcare be allowed to fall, the government is to ultimately answer to the electorate when the election year comes. History has it that Canadians are extremely proud of their universal health care.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

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So much was their pride in it that they thought that the outstanding difference between them and the Americans was the fact that they could go to hospitals without worrying about the charges, while their American counterparts had to hope that the insurance providers will hold to the end of their bargain (Herzlinger, 140). It is of concern to the American physicians that should the universal healthcare system be adopted in the country, they would earn less than they do today. Their fears are justified since their Canadian counterparts earn less (Robinson, Sara).

However, does the need to immerse wealth justify the health complications dogging the American population today? What happened to society upholding the dignity of human life above all else? Another argument is that as opposed to the Canadian doctors who just file their invoices to the government and receives payments without having to hassle about it, the American doctors have to subdivide their time between professionalism and dealing with health insurers, who raise such a scene before they can agree to pay up. Is it no doubt that the Canadian doctors love their jobs more than their neighboring colleagues?A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

In fact, a good working environment in their country makes them focused and therefore the patients are assured of quality care. The tragedy of the American situation is that the doctors in this country are more exposed to legal suits from patients than their American counterparts. A botched medical procedure may make a patient insurance. When such happens, the patients want to be sure that his/her medical expenses are covered. To ensure that this is done, the patient seeks legal redress. In Canada however, a botched medical procedure does not only get paid for by the government, but future fixing of the same is also catered for.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

The Canadians therefore have fewer lessons to sue since; after all, they will be covered for a lifetime. Another positive addition to the Canadian Universal health insurance arrangement is the fact that the poor, the old, the young, the rich and people of all gender and races get to have access to the same doctors. In America, your health insurance cover dictates whether you can access specialist doctors. This creates discrepancies in the social fabric, whereby only those who can afford it get specialized treatment.

Some Americans thinks that the universal health care would curtail their freedom to choose their own doctors, but nothing could be further from the truth. In Canada, every one has the leeway to choose their doctors. The future strength of any country lies on children being born today. Giving new born children a chance to survive is therefore among the indicators that countries judge how well their respective healthcare systems are performing. Just as one would expect considering the different systems in Canada and the United States, Canada does better than the United States in this indicator too (Holsoko and Marvin 8).A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

Too bad is the United States mortality rate that it was ranked second worst after Latvia by a 2006 world’s mother report. This was despite the fact that the United States has neonatal hospital beds and neonatologists that Canada. While Canada registers 4. 3 infant deaths for every 1,000 born, the United States registers 9. 3 deaths for every one thousand deaths. What better prove do people need to believe that the US healthcare system needs to be addressed immediately? The universal care system in Canada has managed to standardize charges in the health sector.

However, this does not mean that the overall government expenditure is any less. The Canadian government however justifies its spending by the virtues that an entire population benefits from it. There have been measures to restrict spending, something that has left the Canadians dissatisfied. Overall, however, the approach by the Canadian government is better than the US approach, which tries to control its spending on healthcare by establishing policies that will lower government expenditure. This approach does nothing to the cost of heath care.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

Your guess about who suffers in this form of arrangement is as good as mine. Government accounts for only 40 percent of all health expenditure (Mueller, Keith 41), while the private sector caters for the rest. When the government seeks to minimize its expenditure rather than regulate the cost across the divide, the private sector and individual people who fund for healthcare from their savings stands to make more loses. Millions of Americans still don’t have access to adequate healthcare even in the 21st century.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

As a result, maladies go untreated and the suffering among those who can ill afford the rising cost of healthcare increase significantly (Mueller 101) despite efforts by the government to address healthcare concerns for the poor, retirees, children and the marginalized people in the society. The American strategy always falls short of the wholesome services offered by the Canadian universal health insurance. Worse still, attempts by the government to establish Medicare and Medicaid have only served small groups but have far reaching consequences such as dissatisfied doctor, patients and payers (Brown, L.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

David 5). Americans may argue that the Canadian approach is not as good as people paint it to be. With the long waiting lists and the bickering in the media about the failing healthcare services, someone is not having a comfortable night. Having invested in the healthcare system for so long, the Canadian populace knows it’s their right to keep the government on its toes. As such, the media plays a watchdog role; where even things that would otherwise pass unreported in the United States make headlines in Canada (Robinson, Sarah).

One of the greatest misdoings for the United State is the deep distrust that people have on public power. Further, their unwillingness to redistributing anything that they think was earned through sacrifice and labor (Brown, L. David 3). As such, the united states not only lacks the political will to find ways of administering universal healthcare, but the citizenry too are not particular about the need for equal health services and the obligation that the government should have towards the health of the general population. Because of this, the public is unable to push the government towards universal principles in health.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

Wherever the need arises, the government offers categorized solutions like was the case with Medicare and Medicaid. However, this only addresses partial problems relating to specific segments of the population. The rest of the population has to contend with justifications motivated political agendas. This approach however, seeks to control the crisis in the health sector by addressing the costs involved. In Canada, the government has managed to regulate the cost of healthcare through the universal healthcare insurance. This is because, each doctor bills the government depending on the diagnosis made on patients.

If the government feels that one physician is billing patients above acceptable standards in the prevailing market rate, then the government has the freedom to bargain the prices downwards. Through Medicare, the United States also has the same opportunity to regulate prices in the market. Through the prospective Payment System (PPS), the government has established average costs that the government pays to individual hospitals regardless of their individual costs. Urban hospitals however receive much money than their rural counterparts (Brown, David 11).A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

By this approach, the government only succeeds in setting the right prices that will ensure that its approach on cutting down government expenditure is realized. Individual payers are left out to find hospitals that suit their incomes. Should the United States decide to take up an approach like Canada’s and provide universal healthcare to the people, what could happen? First, it is no doubt that the liberalized culture in the United States would make it quite hard to make legislation that ensures equity among all people. Looking back at Medicare, there is enough prove that universal equal treatment is not a popular idea among the Americans.

When the question on how individual contributions of the Medicare beneficiaries first appeared in congress, there was division on whether equal treatment should be given to all beneficiaries despite their individual contributions. Another approach would have been to administer equal premiums across all the retirees. However, this too was thought to pose unequal burdens to the contributors. This lesson could act as a basis of attaining universal health coverage. In Canada, the rich and the poor have the same access to healthcare.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

The laws in the country are so strict that any one who feels discontent about health services offered in the country, no matter his/her riches is not able to procure health services from a resident physician. This applies to all diagnosis addressed under the Canada Health Act. Above this, one may combine individual payments, private insurance and public finance to cater for further medical services. While this may seem too stringent to the Americans, it is a perfect way that the Canadian administration uses to ensure that personal riches do not determine the quality of healthcare that individual Canadians receive.

As a result, healthcare is not as commercialized in Canada as is the case in the United States. Instead of taxing revenue and channeling the same to a fund, to act as a national health insurer, Canada derives monies to finance the universal healthcare from general revenue generated by the government. Should the United States adopt the Universal healthcare approach, could the law makers and the general populace agree on a more sustainable funding than witnessed through Medicare? One half of Medicare is financed through income taxes from the beneficiaries.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

The solvency of the fund therefore depends on the employed beneficiaries, without whom the fund would have no source of revenue (Pal, l. Alexander and Weaver R. Kent 74). The second half of Medicare is financed through general government income and premiums. The levels of this second part depend on the legislation governing them at any one time. Just like Canada, there are the US prohibits individual billing of patients covered by Medicare by the physicians . In 1997, it was estimated that 33 million Americans were enrolled for cover by Medicare, while 34 million was covered by Medicaid.

It was also estimated that an average 34 million Americans lacked any form of public or private insurance covers. They are either too poor to be eligible for private health insurance or a bit too wealthy to get medical assistance from the government (Holosko, Michael and Marvin Feit 4). Majorities of the Americans were and still are at the mercies of an approximate 1,500 health insurance providers. To make matters worse, eligibility requirements, premiums, coverage and reimbursement rates are all left to individual insurers to determine.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

In the spirit of encouraging free enterprise, the American government has no regulatory measures that govern coverage in relation to cost, and what the individual health insurance purchasers is entitled to get. In Canada, The US healthcare is looked down as a model, but all for the wrong reasons. The Canadian use the US example as a means of resisting any private interference by the private sector. Unlike Canada however, the populace of the United States have mixed feelings about Canada’s approach to universal health insurance.

Since both Canada and the United States had the same health care systems in the 1960’s, just where did the United States go wrong? A look at the two countries reveals that both governments are deeply involved in the healthcare in the system. The Overall, adopting a universal healthcare strategy is no easy task for America; it is not even easy for Canada and other developed countries like Britain, which have embraced the approach albeit from a different perspective. However, as wisdom dictates, the effect that universal health care would have on the American populace would justify the means. A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

Under the American Medical Association, a doctor has the right to refuse treating a patient if he/she has no proof that he/she will be able to settle the hospital bills. Patients are therefore screened for ability to meet their bills even before the doctors can establish their health conditions. An annual estimation of patients turned away by doctors based on their inability to pay places the figures at 1 million Americans (Holsoko and Marvin 7). Of this, a significant percentage consists of people covered by Medicaid, which many physicians abhor dealing with. This from Medicaid’s delays in payments and the amount of paper work involved.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

A 2007 consumer report indicated that as opposed to Canada’s 5 percent population , who claim to not getting adequate health care, the United States is eight times higher this rate. This is not surprising in a country where 16 percent of the population has no health insurance, and a further 24 percent are covered by skeletal insurances that would provide no coverage for major medical procedures. Apart from the direct health consequences that the uninsured American populace is subjected to, health bills have been touted as a major cause of personal bankruptcies.A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay

Although Canada faces challenges in the provision of universal healthcare, at least the patients know that in spite of how long it takes, they will in the end get medical services without having to worry about the payments. As Holly Dressel stated in an article published in Yes Magazine in fall 2006, Universal healthcare in Canada can be equaled to democracy, which although laden with challenges, remains the best solution that humanity has so far. My conviction is that the United States has the capacity to administer universal health care; the only missing link is the political will. A Comparison of Healthcare in Canada and the United States Essay