Health care systems
Canada vs. United States
Tina Dotson
Instructor: Linda Troxler
July 8, 2013

Canada vs. United States Health care is a large issue in all countries, not just the United States. No matter how hard each country does to establish a successful health care system, no coverage is perfect. There are pros and cons with all of them. There are about 200 countries on our planet and each country devises its own set of arrangements for meeting the three basic goals of a health care system: keeping people healthy, treating the sick, and protecting families against financial ruin from medical bills. Universal Health Care is a system that provides organized health care to all of its citizens in a specified region. What this means is that basic health care will be provided to all of its countries in habitants, and no one can be denied coverage. This type of coverage is publicly funded through what they call taxation. This type of health care is also referred to as a single- payer system According to a recent article from Physicians for a National
Health Care System (2013), “A single-payer system would be financed by eliminating private insurers and recapturing their administrative waste. Modest new taxes, based on ability to pay, would replace premiums and out-of-pocket payments currently paid by individuals and business. Costs would be controlled through negotiated fees, global budgeting and bulk purchasing.” (Silver, Greg , MD p4), In other words, a single - payer under a single, publicly financed insurance plan that provides comprehensive health care.
Almost all developed nations have some form of universal, publicly financed health care. Canada is one of these nations that have adopted this health care system. It is a socialized and publicly funded plan that provides health care to all of its people. It is guided by the provisions of the Canada Health Act of 1984. The Washington post published
In an article written by Sara Kliff, (2012), she stated that The Canadian health care system was built around the principle that all citizens will receive all “medically necessary and hospital physician services.” Their government does not participate in the everyday overall care or collect any information about a persons health. This helps keep the patients confidentially between his or her physician. Since the doctors for each province handles the insurance claims against the local insurer there is no need , for a person to be involved in the billing or retrieving process. This makes it much simpler for the Canada’s Medicare system to be profitable.. Private insurance is only a minimal part of the overall health care system. Generally, costs are paid through funding from income taxes. One way of keeping costs low, and revenue high is keeping advertising small. This allows for a higher percentage of the proceeds to go towards care. This is the same practice for all provinces except for one. British Columbia enforces a fixed monthly premium that is put aside or condensed for anyone on low income. The wait times for certain services can be on an average of three weeks to twenty weeks depending on what type of service that is required.
In emergency cases that are life threatening they are dealt with right away.. Those that are not, are placed on a list for the next available time. To see a specialist and or have surgery, the wait time is a little over four weeks to less than ninety days. For diagnostic services such as MRI and CAT scans, the average time is two weeks to less than ninety days. Since the early 1990’s , the Frasier Institute has calculated the wait times for diagnostic and surgical procedures. The report was measuring the wait times between seeing a general practitioner and a specialist. In 2008, a survey revealed that Canadians that sought surgical or any other types of treatment stood at an a average of 17.3 weeks. weeks.
Nadeem Esmail, Fraser