The origin of modern the Canadian health care system took place in the late sixties and has continued since then. The Canadian system is one of the better examples of healthcare system that has evolved and changed itself under the changing trends of the world and the country it. The healthcare care system is run mainly by the private practitioners and the hospitals are not-for-profit ones which are run by a Board of Trustees. The health professional groups work under recognised colleges done so by the government. But there is majority of practitioners who work privately. The method of payment is generally fee-for-service one.
This method is in contrast with the Canadian hospital systems which basically receive an allocated budget from the government. (Evans and Barer, 2001) All Canadians are medically insured and covered for the medically necessary care and hospitalization. Similarly, there are no boundaries on what physician one can choose to go to, as opposed to the preferred provider system in the USA. This system is better in the sense that the patient does not have to worry about any financial issues should he or she decide to change doctors or seek a second opinion. Along with these, the patient’s diagnostic tests as per fee schedule are also paid for.
(Evans and Barer, 2001) Canada spends a total of 9. 9% of its GDP on healthcare. This percentage is one percent higher when compared to the other OECD countries. However, it is still less than the GDP spending per annum of America, Switzerland, Germany, Iceland, Norway and France. Total spending per capita of Canada is also higher than the OECD average. This health spending per capita has increased with time, at the average rate of 4. 2% per year. This increase has been largely attributed to the increase in the pharmaceutical spending, which became 16. 9% in 2003.
As stated before around 70% of the healthcare spending was done so through public source funding. (OECD Health Data, 2005) But this is where Canada starts having its problems. Canada currently has a very low number of physicians per 1000 population. OECD reports this to be 2. 1 which are low compared to the OECD countries average of 2. 9. The nursing staff however, is present in larger numbers than in OECD countries, however, this number has seen a decrease since 1990. This reduction is primarily due to the global phenomenon of reducing numbers of nurses enrolling themselves for a nursing career and leaving early from their careers.