| According to the census bureau, Canada has a population of 33,390,141 as of July 2007, in comparing to the United States, which has a population of 301,139,147 as of July 2007. A mix of public and private funding, with most services delivered by private both for-profit and not-for-profit providers funds the health care system in Canada. In the early 1960's the United States and Canada had the same healthcare system, but now they have a different mix of funding their healthcare systems.
The United States
The United States is the only wealthy industrialized country in the world; however, it lacks some form of universal health system. From what I know so far, Canada has a single payer system, seventy percent of the population does not have to pay for any out of pocket expenses for medical care; however, there is an estimated forty million uninsured American in the United States. (U.S. Report - MSNBC) A health services review was undertaken in 1979 by Justice Emmett Hall. He reported that, health care services in Canada ranked among the best in the world, but warned that extra-billing by doctors and user fees levied by hospitals were creating a two-tiered system that threatened the accessibility of care.
Canada Healthcare System
In my opinion, the Canadian healthcare system can be frightening; I can only imagine overflowing emergency departments with elderly patients on stretchers, waiting for available rooms to be admitted. Upon completion of this project, I hope to gain and understand why a country as resourceful as the United States does not have a universal healthcare system for its population citizens and put away my crumbled prejudices about the United States healthcare system.
A brief history of the United States Healthcare System
A brief history of the United States healthcare system shows that the current system is increasingly inaccessible to many poor and lower-middle-class people. About 47 million Americans lack health insurance, up from about 40 million in 2000 (National Coalition on Healthcare). Those lucky enough to have coverage are paying steadily more and/or receiving steadily fewer benefits. The increasingly complex warfare between insurers and hospitals over who pays the bills is gobbling up. A great deal of money and resources; and the end result is that the United States pays roughly twice as much per capita for health care as Canada, France, and the United Kingdom yet experiences slightly lower life expectancy than those countries and significantly higher infant mortality. The problem inherent in the U.S. system of health care system is literally not adequate for its people.
Communications between members of congress
There have been numerous communications between several members of congress to improve the cost of healthcare in the United States. One must understand why a single payer plan will not be the wise decision for this country. National surveys show that the primary reason people are uninsured is the high cost of health insurance coverage. Economists have found that rising health care costs correlate to drops in health insurance coverage. Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of the uninsured reported changing their way of life significantly in order to pay medical bills. In a Wall Street Journal-NBC Survey, almost 50 percent of the American public says the cost of health care is their number one economic concern. In a USA Today/ABC News survey, 80 percent of Americans said that they were dissatisfied (60 percent were very dissatisfied) with high national health care spending.
Health insurance premiums
Due to rising health insurance premiums, many small employers cannot afford to offer health benefits to their employees. Companies that do offer health insurance, often require employees to contribute a larger share toward their coverage. As a result, an increasing number of Americans have opted not to take advantage of job-based health insurance because they cannot afford it. Who are the uninsured? They are over 8 in 10 uninsured people who come from working families - almost 70 percent from families with one or more full-time workers and 11 percent from families with part-time workers. The percentage of people (workers and dependents) with employment-based health insurance has dropped from 70 percent in 1987 to 59 percent in 2006. This is the lowest level of employment-based insurance coverage in more than a decade.
EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment Active Labor Act)
Being uninsured, hurt individuals a great deal in the United States, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, income, or health status, uninsured children were much less likely to have received a well-child checkup within the past year. One study shows that nearly 50 percent of uninsured children did not receive a checkup in 2003, almost twice the rate (26 percent) for insured children. The uninsured are increasingly paying "up front" -- before services will be rendered. When they are unable to pay the full medical bill in cash at the time of service, they can be turned away except in life-threatening circumstances, which would be a violation of the EMTALA regulations also known as the anti-dumping statute.
Although, in the U.S., the federal government does not guarantee universal health care to all its citizens, but publicly funded health care programs help to provide for the elderly, disabled, the poor, and children. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, also ensures public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay. A number of free clinics provide free or low-cost non-emergency care to poor, uninsured patients. The National Association of Free Clinics claims that its member clinics provide $3 billion in services to some 3.5 million patients annually.
The aim of Canada Healthcare system
The Canada Health Act is Canada's federal health insurance legislation. The aim of Canada's health care system is to ensure that all residents of Canada have reasonable access to medically necessary insured services without direct charges. The health care system in Canada is funded by a mix of public (70%) and private (30%) funding, with most services delivered by private (both for-profit and not-for-profit) providers. Waiting times for major non-emergency surgery have been longer in Canada, and Canada has been slightly slower to adopt expensive technology and medicines. Canadian peer-reviewed medical journal, found that "health outcomes may be superior in patients cared for in Canada versus the United States, but differences are not consistent. Life expectancy is longer in Canada, and its infant mortality rate is lower than that of the U.S., but there is debate about the underlying causes of these differences.
Although Canada may appear to have an easy system, coverage, and access can be limited. In Canada, every citizen has coverage, but access can still be a problem. Based on 2003 data from the Canadian Community Health Survey, an estimated 1.2 million Canadians do not have a regular doctor because they "cannot find" one, and just over twice that number do not have one because they "haven't looked". Those without a regular doctor are 3.5 times more likely to visit an emergency room for treatment.
Canada's access to healthcare has its own problems. One of the major complaints about the Canadian health care system is waiting times, whether for a specialist, major elective surgery, such as hip replacement, or specialized treatments, such as radiation for breast cancer. The Act makes a distinction between "insured health services" (i.e., those that have been deemed "medically necessary") and "extended health-care services". So-called medically necessary services are defined only in the broad sense of the term. Canada' universal healthcare system's Act, defines hospital services, which are medically necessary for the purpose of maintaining health, preventing disease or diagnosing or treating an injury.
Every American should have health care coverage, participation should be mandatory, and everyone should have basic benefits. There is currently an ongoing political debate centering on questions of access, efficiency, quality, and sustainability. Whether a government-mandated system of universal health care should be implemented in the U.S., remains a hotly debated political topic, with Americans divided along party lines, in their views of the US health system and what should be done to improve it? In the mean time, the Government of Canada believes that a civilized and wealthy nation, such as theirs, should not make the sick bear the financial burden of health care. Everyone benefits from the security and peace of mind that come with having pre-paid insurance. The misfortune of illness, which at some time touches each one of their citizens, is burden enough: the costs of care should be borne by society as a whole. That is why the Government of Canada wishes to re-affirm in a new Canada Health Act their commitment to the essential principle of universal health insurance.
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