There are a lot of similarities that exist between the Canadian healthcare services and those of the US. This can only mean that there are also differences that exist between the healthcare services of the US and Canada. In the first place, just as the US boasts about a universal healthcare program, so does Canada. Both Canada and the US can brag of global health insurance programs that cover all the services that are accorded by hospitals or/ and physicians.
In order to ratify the universal healthcare program, both the US federal and Canadian provincial governments ensure complete funding of services received from the hospitals or/ and physicians. At the same time, both governments set standardized fees to be charged by the physicians or the hospitals so as to ensure that the charges are commensurate. The need to implement these measures was set in place in Canada in the 1970s after physicians, being frustrated and unfulfilled with the official fee charges, decided to work outside the national program so that they could exact higher amounts of charges on patients.
It was until 1984 that the 1984 Canadian Health Act was created and enforced so as to proscribe the act of extra billing on the patients. The problem was that this development led to the setting up of a rigorous one-tier program that eventually stifled the provision of essential services outside the Medicare system falling within the public domains. The only historically dominant contradiction between the health care systems of the US and Canada is that the Canadian at a certain point took to providing free health care systems- a feat that was instrumental in bringing about skyrocketing costs due to high demand in these free services.
However, it is true that just like Canada, the US had also at one time (in the1980s) had to deal with an increased demand in Medicare services as a result of the cheap, free or subsidized medical services. In Canada, the Act had to be annulled so as to reverse the situation. This came in the wake of revelations that the situation in both countries would give the private sector an edge over the public sector. Moreover, the proponents of this measure argued that the practice had not been put to use in even developed economies such as the United Kingdom, Germany or France.
In order to exhaustively elucidate on the differences and similarities between Canadian and the US healthcare systems, it is incumbent that statistical data between the two be analyzed. Many such as Bodenheimer and Grumbach (2008) have surmised that the Canadian healthcare system is rather superior to that of the US, given the fact that the Joint Canada and US Health Survey maintains that whereas the life expectancy in US among the males is 74. 8%, that of Canada was 77. 4%. At the same time, among females, life expectancy was 80.
1% and 82. 4% in the US and Canada, respectively. In another wavelength, while the US infant mortality per every thousand live births tolled at 6. 8% that of Canada was lower remaining at 5. 3%. The above type of situation has led many into being convinced that the healthcare services that are being provided by the Canada outweigh that of the US in quality and effectiveness. In the same spectrum, it is maintained by Illingworth (2005) that US suffers more obesity rates among males, since this population accounts for 31.
1%, a figure which is lower than the 17. 0% that Canada is conversant with. As a corollary to the above situation, obesity among females in the US remains at 32. 2%, compared to that of 19. 0% in Canada. As if to deliver a deathblow to the US healthcare systems, it is maintained that Canada spends 10. 4% of its Gross Domestic Produce (GDP) on healthcare, whereas the US, 14. 6%. All these data apply as far as the period of 2006 and the years predating this tike are concerned (Jonas 2007).
In a closely related spectrum, it is important to note that as far as the infant mortality in the US and Canada is concerned, there is a slight difference between the two. If the infant health is predicated upon the birth weight of a child, it is important to note that the mortality rates between the two countries will stand at par. As a matter of fact, many healthcare analysts maintain that the US could be having a cutting edge over the Canadian healthcare system, as far as infant healthcare services are concerned.
However, it is true that infant mortality in Canada remains lower in Canada than in the US. This could mean that the situation is either underpinned by epidemiological and/ or demographic factors, or it may also mean that the US is having an upper hand in ensuring live births for babies who have minimal birth weights. In order to explain the cause of the high overall mortality rates, it was explained that Canadians enjoyed a higher longevity, given the fact that the US was more susceptible to preponderant cases of homicides and accidents in the US, as opposed to Canada.
As a matter of fact, it is maintained by healthcare and demographic analysts such as Edelman (2005) that 50%-85% of the gap in mortality figurers between the two countries occurs in the twenties, and as such, the disparity can be attributed to the homicide and accident raters in the US. Edelman (Ibid) elucidates that, as if to bolster this concept further, it is pointed out by this same group (Joint Canada and US Health Survey) that the population that falls within the age of 50 only accounts for 30%-50%.
While trying to underscore the fact that high mortality rates is attributable to the number of accidents and homicides in the US, the US maintains that this group is also very vulnerable to heart diseases, despite the fact that the group accounts for a significant number in the US demography. It is also maintained that Canada seems to have a healthcare system that is easy to access, given that it is based on a system that is essentially a fusion of egalitarianism with some elements of socialism. This is opposed to the US healthcare system which is reliant on the model of free market capitalism.
Hoverer, while experts and analysts agree that Canadian healthcare services are more accessible, the same point out that the Canadian population enjoys a lower disease infection and incident rates, whereas treatment rates in the US remain higher in the US. Conclusion The fact that the US would enjoy a higher treatment rate while Canada, a low infections incident rate reveals the fact that the former is more oriented on treatment compared to the latter which is more geared towards fighting sicknesses through prevention.
It is therefore important that the US ensures that it adopts more preventive stances in the provision of medical or healthcare services, since prevention is more effective than cure.
Works Cited
Bodenheimer, Thomas and Grumbach, Kevin. Understanding Health care Policies. Michigan: University of Michigan. 2008. Edelman, Carole. Human Health Promotion and the Longevity of Life in Canada. Ottawa: Elsevier Health Sciences. 2005. Illingworth, Patricia. Costs of Medicare in the US and Canada. New York and Ottawa: Routledge. 2005. Jonas, Steven. A Look at the US Health Care Program. New York: Springer. 2007.