Health Care in the United States vs. Canada, Research Paper Example

Medicine and Health Care: Health Care in the United States vs. Canada

Introduction

Health care is the management and treatment of various sicknesses and ailments. Proper health care ensures that the community is entitled to affordable medical, clinical, pharmaceutical and dental services. Health care should strive to provide better services to promote quality health to the society, this include embracing palliative, curative and preventive intervention.

Thesis statement

Every country has the mandate of providing reliable and affordable health care to its citizens. This article is going to highlight health care provision in two countries that had a similar healthcare system four decades ago i.e. the United States and Canada. Note that many changes have occurred over the years, and the health care systems are remarkably different from what they were four decades ago. People have different views on which health care system is better than the other in the two countries. Note that a decent health care system depends entirely on an individuals take on the subject matter. Whereas libertarians would prefer the US system; some people would prefer the Canadian health system. I beg to categorically state that each health care system in the two countries has its pros and cons.

Health Care in the U.S vs. Canada

Guyatt et.al (2007) asserts that health care experts have always used the Canadian and American health care systems to evaluate effective policies, and frameworks that drive health care standards all over the world. This is because these two nations are among the best when it comes to better health care provision. Such comparisons are usually triggered by the fact that the two nations once had similar health care systems. The most obvious difference between the two systems is the method of funding. Whereas the Canadian system is well funded by the public while the balance is paid privately, the American system is funded by the government. This has culminated into the American government spending more on health care than Canada, both on a percentage of the Growth Domestic product and a per-capita basis. Statistically, per-capita spending for health care in America was $ 6,715 as compared to $3,679 by the Canadian government in 2006. On the other hand, the American government spent 15.4% of the Growth Domestic Product (GDP) on health care as compared to the Canadian government which spent 10%. This is a clear indication that the American government is spending more on health care than Canada every year (Guyatt et.al, 2007).

However, the millions of dollars the American government is spending on health care do not cover all its citizens equitably. Health care experts argue that health outcomes are higher in patients looked after in Canada vs. the United States. It has also been proven that the average life expectancy of a typical American citizen is shorter than that of their Canadian counterparts. The World Health Organization (WHO) conducted a study from which it discovered that the average life expectancy of a Canadian was 80 years whereas that of an American was 78 years. On the same note, the infant mortality rate is higher in United States than in Canada.

Pros and cons of the two health care systems

General outlook

Although the U.S government is spending a lot of dollars on its health care system, the results do not reflect this. Its health care system is less developed than that of Canada. The high number of infant mortality and lower life expectancy in the United States is a reflection of the same. In regards to health care accessibility, America ranks high as compared to Canada. Many Americans can get immediate access to health care facilities as compared to Canada; this has facilitated timely treatment to the American patients. Patient responsiveness in US is an indication that the quality of health care system in US is better than that of Canada. However, the prolonged waiting time before one is attended to can be considered the reason why US records higher mortality rates than Canada (Tejada, 2002). The quality of health care system can be attributed to the fact that Canada records higher mortality rates for certain diseases such as heart disease. Nonetheless, health care has been given the highest priority in the budgets of both nations.

Wait times

Both health care systems have been characterized by delays in attending to patients, the issue of wait times for minor and complicated treatments has been a soaring problem for both systems. Note that wait times is affected by various factors in both countries, in the United States, the wait time will be determined by the patient’s ability to pay for his/her treatment and the availability of the facilities that can address a patient’s ailment in his/her area of residence. In Canada, the wait time is usually determined by the availability, and ease of accessing a particular health service in one’s locality. In both US and Canada, the magnitude of a patient’s disease will determine how long that a patient will wait before being treated (Tejada, 2002). It is however worth noting that waiting in US takes longer. This can then be compared to the Canadian wait time, which is comparatively shorter because it is only determined by the availability of the required services in that area, and relative need of that treatment by the individual patient. High disease incidence in US can be associated with the longer waiting time.

Patients confidentiality

One plus for the US health care provision is that patient confidentiality is higher in the US than in Canada. This has however been severed in recent years due to an increased level of vested interests in an individual’s health by insurance companies that mostly finance health care in the US.  However, patient confidentially decreases based on economic and race in both health care systems. The Asians in Canada and blacks in US experience less patient confidentiality than other people in the state. The issue of patient confidentiality has had denting effects on health care systems in many nations. This has culminated into the loss of confidence by those patients who have experienced lapses in confidentiality issues.

Government Involvement

The government is expected to have a hand in every issue related to the health of its citizens; this is evident by the involvement the U.S and Canadian governments in their health care systems. Both governments have tried their level best to support their respective health care systems; the American government spent $2,728per head of the population in funding health care. On the other hand, the Canadian government spent $ 1,893 per head of the population on the same. These figures have been drawn from a study which was carried out in 2004 (Adam & Gladwell, 2002). Each government has adopted stringent measures to ensure that every citizen can access health care anywhere and anytime. The single-payer health care system in Canada covers 70% of the entire expenditure. The Canada Health Act stipulates that all insured individuals must be fully insured, that the insurance should cover for all medical and physical health care (Adam & Gladwell, 2002). In America, the government directly finances health care through the Medicaid, Medicare and SCHIP. This program covers all eligible senior citizens, disabled persons, children and persons from poor households.

Professionalism in Medical Practice

One of the reasons why the US health care is heavily funded is because some of the money goes into paying nurses, doctors and other medical professionals. General physicians in the US for instance earn double what their counterparts earn in Canada. This inspires more Americans to pursue careers in medicine. Consequently, doctors and medical professionals are more qualified and more specialized in the US than in Canada. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, many of Canadian graduates are seeking jobs in the US for the better pay since 2005.

Conclusion

Most comparison studies on health care in the US and Canada have mainly been based on costs and funding.  This is also noteworthy, since resource allocation is part of the ongoing restructuring processes in both nations health care systems, the above comparison factors have clearly elaborated that quality healthcare goes beyond funding. Accessibility by ordinary citizens, doctor-patient ratio, patient confidentiality, professionalism and such factors are also relevant to consider. More so, it is pertinent to note that policy and government involvement has been central in making the Canadian health care system superior to that of the US in many aspects.

References

Adam, G., & Gladwell, M. (2002). Health care Forum: Canada vs. U.S. Retrieved March 12, 2010, from http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2000/0003.gladwellgopnik.html

Guyatt, G. et al. (2007). A Systematic Review of Studies Comparing Health Outcomes in Canada and the United States. Retrieved March 12, 2010 from http://www.openmedicine.ca/article/view/8/1

Tejada, F. & Lito Tejada (2002). Health Care Finance for the University Of Phoenix. Retrieved March 12, 2010 from http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/health-care-for-all/1503