Canadian Aboriginal Healthcare Situation Health, Medicine Essay

Canadian Aboriginal Healthcare Situation
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Canadian Aboriginal Healthcare Situation
Introduction
According to the 2017 Commonwealth Fund Report, Canada’s health system was ranked 9th out of 11 high-income countries in the world (McAlister, Cram, & Bell, 2018). Based on the five domains that make up the ranking (administrative efficiency, outcomes, equity, care process, and access), Canada's poor ranking emanated from problems in equity and access. The report further suggests that Canada's poor ranking in the two domains was driven by the cost of drugs and dental care. 30% reported difficulties in affording drugs, while 28% had skipped routine dental care in the past year due to cost. In the ‘care process domain, Canada’s ranking suffered because of the lack of digital health records in primary care practices (Gagnon et al., 2016). The two underperforming domains suggest a level of inequality in the Canadian Health System, especially for low-income and minority groups such as the Aboriginals. Therefore, changes in the system are necessary for sustainability.
Canadian Health System
In Canada, healthcare (Medicare) is publicly funded through territorial and provincial systems across the country. The country's Medicare is responsible for medical expenses of 70% of Canadians, while the private sector covers the rest (30%). The 30% is related to some of the services that are not covered under Medicaid, such as dentistry, prescription drugs, and optometry. About 75% of Canadians have supplementary health insurance that covers some or all of these exceptions under Medicaid (Kassam, 2017). Therefore, the implication for low-income Canadians who have little or no access to supplementary insurance must pay for these services out of their pockets. For this section of the population, access to dental services, and prescription drugs remains a significant problem in the 21st century. Therefore, it implies that a significant number of Canadians have no access to some of these services.
According to the Canada Health Act, public healthcare insurance is designed to ensure that Canadian citizens have access to insured health care services on a pre-paid basis (Fernandes & Spencer, 2020). In essence, the system prevents eligible residents from incurring direct charges at the point of services. The act covers all medically necessary physician and hospital services with provisions applying to long-term care, such as care for the elderly in nursing homes. While the federal governments provide some of the funding as well as legislation, provinces have the freedom to tailor their needs with unprecedented changes in Medicare. Thus, while the healthcare system is the same throughout the country, there are variations among provinces.
In this system, the cost of prescription drugs and dental services is a key concern, especially for low-income and minority groups. Canadians spend over $12 billion annually on dental services (CBC, 2018). Despite this, the Canadian Life and Health insurance Association reports that 25 million Canadians (80% of working families) have extended health insurance that caters for prescriptions, dental services, and other health-related expenses not covered by the government. Consequently, six million Canadians avoid dental services annually because it is unaffordable. A 2014 report by the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences indicated that nearly 50% of Canadians in the low-income bracket have no dental insurance. Canada's aboriginals are among the most affected to this end.
Aboriginal Health Care Problems
Indigenous (or aboriginal) Canadians make up 4.9% of the Canadian population (1,673,785), according to the 2016 census. They are part of the minority groups in Canada, which include Black, Chinese, and Filipino, among others. Aboriginals are the original inhabitants of the land that is today referred to as Canada. Around the world, and historically, minority groups are often victims of social inequality because of the level of poverty they are subjected to by government or state institutions. In Canada, aboriginals are among the minority groups that face extreme poverty and poor access to healthcare. Between 2005 and 2015, the median income of Canadian households increased from $63,475 to $70,336 (Statistics_Canada, 2017). In 2017, the country's median annual family income was $84,950 (Duffin, 2019). For aboriginals, however, the median family income was $41,882. In this situation, we have a majority group that can afford dental services and prescriptions and a minority that does not earn enough to afford similar services.
Recent reports indicate that Canada's population is increasingly racialized with the 2016 census reporting that 7.7 million Canadians (22% of the population) were of racialized groups, a 6% increase since 2006. The rapid growth, however, has not been matched by the corresponding increase in economic inequality (Block, Galabuzi, & Tranj, 2019). For racialized workers such as the aboriginals, members are more likely to be active in the labor force, either trying to find work or employed. However, they are also more likely to stay unemployed compared to the white majority. Between 2006 and 2016, non-racialized men's employment rate reduced by 4.3%, compared to a 2.1% decrease in racialized men. Furthermore, 60% of racialized Canadians (compared to 47% of non-racialized residents) are in the bottom half of the distribution of family income (Block, Galabuzi, & Tranj, 2019). Thus, racialized groups are overrepresented in the section of the population living in poverty. This section of the population continues to struggle in meeting prescription and dental services costs and insurance.
Therefore, among the key problems in the Canadian health system is income-related health inequalities. Distribution of income accounts for half of the income-related inequalities in healthcare in the country (McAlister, Cram, & Bell, 2018). Among the inherent factors in the public health system are lack of insurance and unmet needs (McGrail, van Doorslaer, Ross, & Sanmartin, 2009). Unfortunately for aboriginals, the issues of unmet needs and lack of insurance pit them in a difficult situation where they are forced to skip or avoid dental services or purchasing prescriptions. Moreover, due to poverty, the group is forced to reside in low-income areas where there is increased health-related risk factors. In essence, this section of the population is more in need of health care services than any other group based on living conditions.
A good example is a dilemma Canada is facing regarding the prevalence of chronic diseases among the aboriginals (Beks et al., 2019). Prescriptions for chronic conditions are expensive and, therefore, a burden for such communities. As mentioned earlier, these communities reside in areas where they are increasingly exposed to risk factors due to poverty. As a result, future generations are more likely to reside in the same conditions and, therefore, will be affecte...