Canadian Health Care Vs American Health Care

CANADIAN HEALTH CARE VS AMERICAN HEALTH CARE

Nidhi Patel

The Canadian health care system models’ better standards for its patients than the United States healthcare system. “Th^[a]e United States and Canada had similar health care systems before Canada opted to reform its health care policies during the 1960s and 70s.”  The Canadian health care system is mostly publicly funded while on the other hand, the health care in the United States is mostly privately funded. Due to this, the Canadian system provides better coverage for its citizens, at a lower cost and all while maintaining a high quality of service. The reasoning behind why The Canadian health care is better than the American is based on access and coverage, cost, and quality.

In terms of access to health care and coverage, the Canadian health care system is more efficient compared to the US^[b] system. Canada offers universal health care access to its citizens, unlike the US.  According to KFF, a family foundation, 45% of US citizens did not have access to health care insurance in 2016. To elaborate, the KFF found that one out of every five non-elderly US citizens do not have health Insurance, proving that the US healthcare facility is mostly privately funded. ^[c]It is evident that the federal government of the US does not have the resources for universal access to health care. In comparison, Canada’s publicly funded health care systems which ensure universal access to health care to 70% of it’s citizens based on Canada’s Service health. The publicly funded health care plans in the US are targeted at a small percentage of the US population, mostly towards the disabled, children and individuals who are below the federal poverty line and children^[d]. In the US, “^[e]Medicare and the State Children Health Insurance Program” are the only programs. ^[f]Canadians do not have to worry about joining these programs as The Canadian government assures universal access to health care for its citizens. ^[g]

In terms of cost^[h], the federal government of Canada invests more funds in the healthcare sector compared to the US. As a result of the public funding of the Canadian system, health care costs in Canada are from business and personal taxes that are paid to the provincial and federal governments. Research investigating the comparison between the quality of health care and the level of income of individuals in the two countries have revealed by the NCBI, “Health income seems to be more predominant in Canada compared to the United States probably due to relatively low costs”. The high involvement of the private practitioners in the US makes them able to bypass regulations of the healthcare insurance sector. This makes accessing health care services more expensive in the US than ^[i]in Canada, ensuring Canadians patients a healthier medical status.

In terms of the quality of health care, Canadians are reported to be healthier compared to US citizens. Health statistics performed by a CIHI^[j] show that infant mortality and death rate are lower in the Canada than in America. The new Canadian health care laws are far more effective compared to the American systems. CIHI indicated that successful health outcomes concerning Canadian patients are higher compared to the US. The factors of wait times and available offices of healthcare ^[k]resources are also longer compared to the wait times in the Canadian health care facilities. In the US, there are not many civil divisions of clinics in the health care facilities, contrary to Canada. Therefore, the quality of the health care system in Canada is proving to be quite essential for Canadian patients.  

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