Canada’s Main Focus on the Policy Standard, U.S. Healthcare System

Healthcare Policies around the World
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Healthcare Policies around the World
There are varying versions of healthcare administration that exist around the world. Differences emerge in various fronts including quality and efficacy of healthcare services, cost of services and mode of operation. Nonetheless, the primary focus still remains providing healthcare services to people in need. This paper focuses on the health policies for both the United States and Canada. The two North American countries are perfect study cases for their different approaches in terms of health policies. While both healthcare systems remain successful when compared to others globally, their differences in policy and governance, workforce, leadership, and quality determine which of the two systems is better.
Canada’s Main Focus on the Policy Standard
Canada employs a unique publicly funded healthcare system. Canada utilizes a universal health care system known as Medicare, the national health insurance system (NHI) funded by both the federal and provincial governments (Baldwin, 2011; McLaughlin & McLaughlin, 2018). Canada’s Medicare covers 97% of the population while the other 3 percent are covered by other government healthcare programs. While most healthcare facilities in Canada are government owned, the country’s healthcare system uses both the public and private sector (Baldwin, 2011). Canada’s Medicare system primarily focuses on providing more healthcare services to the population for far less ("Is Canada the Right Model for a Better U.S. Health Care System?", 2017). With the support of both the federal and the provincial governments, the Canadian healthcare system focuses on providing publicly funded healthcare services to the entire population.
Similarities between Canadian and U.S. healthcare systems
In both countries, the government is heavily involved in the provision of healthcare services to the population. In the United States, for instance, the governments provides various healthcare systems to target population segments such as the military and veteran healthcare systems, The Indian Health Service, Medicaid that covers the indigent population, and Medicare that covers the elderly (65 years and above) and certain disabled low-income populations (Baldwin, 2011). Canada’s healthcare system is funded by federal and provincial governments, providing a universal healthcare system that targets the entire population (Baldwin, 2011). Therefore, the government remains critical in healthcare in both countries.
Another similarity is the number of physicians and physician visits per person. McLaughlin and McLaughlin (2018) note that Canada and the United States both have a similar number of physicians per 1000 population (at 2.7 vs. 2.6). Similarly, both the United States and Canada have similar physician visits per person rates (McLaughlin and McLaughlin, 2018). Both the United States and Canada experience the problem of access to care. For instance, Valle (2016) notes that despite limited financial challenges in Canada in accessing health care, equality in access of care is lacking, citing examples of poor and isolated Canadians, such as the Aboriginals, who receive inadequate care compared to those with higher social economic status. Another similarity is that in both countries, there is implicit rationing, caused by delays in elective services (inadequate personnel and equipment) in Canada, and inability to pay (patient’s income) in the United States (McLaughlin and McLaughlin, 2018; Valle, 2016). Although in different levels, both the United States and Canada share a number of similarities in their healthcare systems.
Policy differences between Canadian and U.S. healthcare systems
Healthcare in the United States comprises of an extensive and complex mixture of public and private care. The heavily private, multi-payer healthcare system has no single nationwide system of medical insurance. The demand for healthcare is, therefore, driven by the private market and partly by the federal government to specific groups within the population such Medicare that covers the elderly and specific disabled low-income segments of the population (Ridic, Gleason & Ridic, 2012; (McLaughlin and McLaughlin, 2...