Canada has a federalized health system. This means that instead of a health insurance system, Canada has, “a set of publicly financed, provincially run insurance plans covering all legal residents for specified service categories, primarily "medically necessary" physician and hospital care,” (Deber). Unlike some countries that have government-supplied health care, Canada’s doctors are independent from the government, they’re not employed by the government, but they are paid by the government’s insurance program.
How much the government spends per citizen varies depending on the age of the person and where they’re from in Canada. For example, the government pays about $6,431 for a sixty-five year old and as much as $20,387 for older seniors. The highest per-person spending is in, “Newfoundland and Labrador ($7,132) and Alberta ($6,787).” The lowest per-person spending is in, “British Columbia ($5,775) and Quebec ($5,531),” (Chai). The lowest and highest, average together comes out to be about $6,306 per person per year.
Because it is run by the government Canadian health care is paid for through taxes. According to Chai, “governments dole out about 40 per cent of their budgets on health care spending.” They pay more than many countries with the same type of public health insurance. On the other hand, Canada pays only a little over half of the American spending per citizen, and American health care isn’t even federalized.
Works Cited
Deber, Raisa Berlin. "Health Care Reform: Lessons From Canada." American Journal Of Public Health 93.1 (2003): 20-2
Chai, Carmen. “By the numbers: How much did Canada spend on health care in 2013?” Global News. Oct. 2013. Web. Nov. 4. 2014 http://globalnews.ca/news/932105/by-the-numbers-how-much-did-canada-spend-on-health-care-in-2013/
