Compare and Contrast socialized healthcare between Canada with free market healthcare in the US
Both Canada and United States health care programs are most admirable globally. However, in comparison Canadian health care system is used by U.S policy makers as a model in betterment of its healthcare programs because it has been more effective.
The most explicit difference between the two heath care programs is that, the Canadian program has a single player i.e. it’s an entirely public funded while that of U.S has a multi-player, which is a heavily private system. A single player healthcare is a system where private insurers are not involved in any way because the government pays for all citizens’ healthcare needs. However, the provision of the service (medical services) can be offered by either private organization or government organization. Thus Canadian single player policy refers to government as a single financier of health care costs. This system of health care is guided by the Canadian health act of 1984. In United States the multi player policy enables private participation in funding of health care whereby insurance companies play as much role as the government. Employers in United States extend health care benefits to permanent employees more than in Canada. Irrespective of Canadian health care system being mainly financed by the government, the united sates government spends more finance on its healthcare program than Canadian government. Recent data indicates that, Canada spends as low as seven percent of its GDP while USA spends over fourteen percent of GDP on health care programs. However, the enormous United States spending has not translated to better citizens’ health care than that received by Canadians (Heifgott, 96).
Medical professionals
The excessive money spends on health care program in united states mainly goes to nurses, physicians and other medical professionals. Recent research indicates that physicians in United States earn almost twice than their counterparts in Canada. This has attracted many medical practitioners (Canadian Health Care, 1).
The low pay for medical professionals in Canada has contributed to significant brain drain of medical doctors. This has made United States have more medical professionals per capita than Canada. Canada is estimated to have 2.2 doctors per 1000 persons while United States has 2.4 doctors per 1000 persons. Canadian medical department has tried to fill the void created by allowing doctors from South Africa, India and Pakistan to practice in Canada. Physicians and other medical staff in Canada also immigrate to United States to pursue career growth. This is because United States provides easy mechanisms of medical career advancement due to high government expenditure on research and technology (Heifgott, 92).
Embracement of technology
The Canadian government spends much less on technology as compared to United States. Various data sources indicate that in 2004 united states had 19.5 MRI scanners per million population compared to Canada’s 4.6 per million. The same difference is also exhibited in regard to number of CT scanners because Canada had 10.3 per million while unites states had 29.5 million scanners in year 2004. Despite this difference in adoption of high-tech technology its effect on quality of medication i.e. on medical outcome is still debatable. This debate is attributable to the high number malpractice litigation in United States (Canadian Health Care,1).
Malpractice litigation
Malpractice law suits in United States are far much above those in Canada. This has led to higher cost of defending and settling malpractice law suits in US than in Canada. In addition, defensive medicine administered to counter poor drug prescription in United States is also higher than that of Canada. This has made the cost of health care in United States to be higher than that of Canada (Heifgott, 96).
Ancillary medical expenses
There are more ancillary medical expenses in United States than in Canada. In addition, general administrative costs in United States are significantly high than those of Canada. This is contributed by government strict legislations on recordkeeping as well as diversity of insurers financing the medical system. Several studies conducted in both countries indicate that ancillary costs in United States are almost double those of Canada. Hence the high expenditure on medical programs in United States may not actually generate to improved health care (The National Bureau of Economic Research, np).
Private care
The Canadian legislations do not strictly prohibit private delivery or private insurance for publicly insured services. However, the Canada health act of 1984 provides a lot of financial disincentives for embracing the same. The main aim of government in controlling Canadian healthcare has been to make the costs of health care to be as low as possible. This is why the government does not allow private patients to bid up prices. The government control has led to a situation where patients with non-emergency illness are not allowed to pay out of their pockets and must follow all government procedures i.e. wait for their turn on the long waiting list (The National Bureau of Economic Research, np).
On the other hand, In United States health care system is mainly consumer driven. The congress has facilitated this by enacting laws which allow citizens to have health saving accounts. These accounts provide tax incentives for persons to save for retiree or future health expenses. Money saved in the accounts is tax free however, individuals wishing to have the account must have high deductable health plan. Experts see this plan as one aimed at shifting health care from sole government hands to a market based system which encourages people to make decision on the quality of health care they wish to enjoy (The National Bureau of Economic Research, np).
Coverage and access
The market driven United States health care may sometimes be flouted by failing to have 100 percent coverage however, access to doctors has been higher in US than in Canada. The United States government has tried over years to increase its coverage by providing health care programs for children, elderly, the poor and disabled. In addition, the emergency medical treatment and active labor act has ensures citizens have unlimited access to emergency services irrespective of their ability to pay (The National Bureau of Economic Research, np). The United States has increased its coverage by providing free clinics which offer non-emergency care to the above mentioned groups and the uninsured. Despite this extensions provided several s studies have indicated that Americans who have no insurance cover are less satisfied with medical services offered and are mainly unable to see a doctor (Heifgott, 95).
Historical reasons attributed to the differences in health care systems of USA and Canada
The two countries diverged health care system started over forty years ago. This is because during the period when Canadian government was focusing on publicly funded healthcare system United States funds were channeled to military due to cold war. Thereafter, economists in USA were divided on extend of government involvement in provision of various social services. It was thus difficult for US presidents to introduce and implement purely government funded health program. However, during this time Canadian parliamentary system of governance made it possible for the government to increase it’s spending on health sector hence the reason for embracing the present health system (Heifgott, 94).
Conclusion
The health care program in United States is quite different from that in Canada. This is because Canadian government is sole financial of county’s health program while that of United States is financed by both the government and private sector. Despite the various sources of finance United States government expenditure on medical programs outweighs that of Canada. This high government spending has its large proportion going to high wages of medical staff and other uneconomical expenses like high administration costs and high compensation of litigates who sue due to medical malpractice. The coverage of medical programs is higher in Canada than in United States. However, access to medical qualified doctor is higher in United States than in Canada. This is attributable to higher ratio of doctors to citizens in United States than that in Canada. The differences in the programs between this two countries dates back to period of cold war where the different governments had different priorities.
References
"Canadian Health Care: Canada Health Act." Canadian Health Care. N.p., 6 July 2013. Web. 17 July 2013. <http://www.canadian-healthcare.org/page2.html>.
"Comparing the U.S. and Canadian Health Care Systems." The National Bureau of Economic Research. N.p., 17 July 2013. Web. 17 July 2013. <http://www.nber.org/bah/fall07/w13429.html>.
Heifgott , Simon. "a comparison of Canadian and US health care systems." the Rheumatologist 14.2 (2012): 96. http://www.the-rheumatologist.org
