Determinants of Health and Health Care, Essay Example

In Canada, the top health determinants are income, education, social support, childhood development, personal health practices, and coping skills. Ninth on the list of top health determinants is access to health care (Rainer & Silas, 2012). It is quite evident that, in the eyes of the government, money is far more important than living a healthy life and having access to the kind of care needed to make this a possibility. It is widely known amongst the citizens of Canada that there is a large gap between the rich and the poor within the nation. It is important for the citizens of Canada to understand how the government controls the health care system and how this influences who actually has access to care and what is needed in order for changes to eventually take place nationwide.

Rainer and Silas (2012) reported that 20 percent of the cost of health care is influenced by various health inequities directly proportional to circumstances such as poverty. This causes the country to spend more money in order to provide additional services to counteract measures that could have been possibly prevented in the first place if the proper care was offered the first time to those citizens who needed health interventions or preventive measures. Many patients have reported that, while there is supposedly an ‘access waiting list’ in order for specific surgeries to be performed, this is nothing more than a ruse to weed out those who do not have the funds to pay for the surgeries themselves. It puts the rest of the citizens on a list for years and forces them to live in pain and suffer with a poor quality of life while they wait on the needed treatment that will help their problems (Carpay, 2012).

Several of the Canadian citizens who are able to afford private surgeries have opted to pay out of pocket to achieve relief sooner rather than later and have reported this to be a huge factor in their increased quality of life, yet it was a dismal decision for them to make when the government supposedly takes the responsibility of caring for its citizens and not doing what is needed (Carpay, 2012). The federal government is responsible for providing financial support for the provinces and delivering health care to most groups. Seventy-five percent of all Canadians believe that health care should be first on the government’s priority list and not ninth (Kirkey, 2012).

The dominant explanatory framework for each media article in this paper is a political economic model rather than a socio-environmental model, bio-medical model, or any other combination of  models. The healthcare benefits and laws being passed are dependent on the government and not on what is necessarily best for the citizens of Canada. This is evident by polling its citizens and analyzing the results as reported above. The strategies provided for maintaining health are to utilize a more efficient method of health care delivery, although this is not happening at the present time. They are not consistent strategies with what is being read in the media, as we can all attest to.

The implications of the use of these models in media reports about health are important for the public in order for us to understand the magnitude of what is happening in our immediate environment. There is access to health care, but the citizens of Canada must often pay exorbitant amounts of money to obtain the full services needed for injuries or ailments faced by some citizens of the country. If these things are not paid for with individual private funds, it is sometimes years before the government allows the individuals to access the services needed to obtain the treatments that will alleviate these injuries or ailments. Many times, this can be the difference between leading a happy life and leading a life of constant pain and agony.

The public must understand both sides to the health care issue and fully be made aware that, while the government controlled health services are a good thing for some, this is not the answer for everyone and there are many instances where citizens and their claims slip through bureaucratic cracks in the system. The majority of Canadian citizens believe health care should be changed in the country and made more accessible for everyone. This is something the government must realize and begin to move towards reforming in order to help the citizens of Canada live healthier lives and increase the overall mortality of the population during the next decade.

References

Carpay, J. (2012, July 11). All Canadians should be able to buy private health insurance. Retrieved from The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/all-canadians-should-be-able-to-buy-private-health-insurance/article4408843/

Kirkey, S. (2012, August 13). Ottawa, doctors in face off over federal role in health care. Retrieved from National Post: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/13/ottawa-doctors-in-faceoff-over-federal-role-in-health-care/

Rainer, R., & Silas, L. (2012, July 15). Rich-poor gap is making Canadians sick. Retrieved from The Star: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/publiceditor/article/1226505–rich-poor-gap-is-making-canadians-sick