The Canadian Health Care System - 1823 Words

Over the past decade there has been a major debate over healthcare reform across the globe, including Canada. The Canadian health care system is called Medicare and can be described as a single-payer system. In essence, the majority of Canadians receive health care through a publicly funded system that consists of federal transfers to the ten provincial governments who then decided how the money is to be allocated in conjunction with the federal health care standards. These standards were set by the Canada Health Act of 1985 (henceforth â€Å"the Act†), which states that each province must adhere to the Act’s five main principles in order to receive funding; these principles include: universal coverage for all medically necessary care,†¦show more content†¦Proponents of Medicare state that with a single-payer system equity is more attainable than in a system that depends on a person’s ability to pay as in the US. However, a study done by O’Neill a nd O’Neill found that Canada actually has a higher â€Å"health income gradient† than in the US (2007). Many believe that this inequity is due to the ambiguity surrounding the Act’s term â€Å"medically necessary† that has never been clearly defined. Thus, each province controls what is deemed â€Å"medically necessary† causing ten different benefits packages and increased inequity. Other liabilities include: a lack of funding for hospitals, insufficient healthcare resources (such as surgeons, MRI and CT scanners), a short supply of family doctors, and a halt in technological innovation. When compared to the US, Canada spends around half as much on investment in medical facilities and around a third as much on technology investments (â€Å"US Health Care VS. France, UK, Canada†). Also, in most provinces acquiring a family doctor occurs through a lottery system (ABC report). These disadvantages are the basis for the various recommendations for policy reform. The search for the best universal healthcare system has expanded all over the globe and Canada is no exception. As with anything involving public policy, there have been a number of options put forward as the best policy option to fix the shortcomings of the current system. Some argue that Canada should add supplementaryShow MoreRelatedThe Canadian Health Care System1111 Words   |  5 PagesThe Canadian health care system is often touted as a better health care system compared to the way the United States administers health care since the two neighboring nations appear to be economically and socially similar. The U. S. and Canada have extensive health care systems for it citizens but each country has different methods to financing health care. Health care in Canada is funded at both the provincial and federal levels while the U.S. health care system funded by a combination of publicRead MoreThe Canadian Health Care System1226 Words   |  5 Pagesthat â€Å"The 1983 Canada Health Act replaced the 1947 Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services act because of the shift from a system of 50-50 federal-provincial cost sharing to a system of block funding established in Ottawa in 1977† (Fierlbeck 2011, pg.20). Until the period of the mid 1980’s, the Canadian health care system is to be categorized in a disarray, having no foundation to components and accomplishment. The system is to rely mainly on cost sharing; whereby in a health insurance policy onlyRead MoreThe Canadian Health Care System Essay1191 Words   |  5 PagesA Poisoned System While many may argue that the Canadian health care system provides equal treatment to every Canadian, evidence shows that this is not the case. There are major discrepancies within the system regarding Indigenous people that need to be addressed including several factors such as: housing issues, stereotypes Aboriginals face and the lack of Aboriginal doctors. Colonialism has contributed to multiple issues in the lives of Aboriginal people including inadequate housing and cleanRead MoreThe Canadian Health Care System2066 Words   |  9 PagesIntroduction to the issue (e.g. problem, dilemma, concern); include a thesis statement. The Canadian health care system is certainly unique in its features†¦. Despite, the fact that the Canadian health care system is one of the most evolved in the world, it lacks a sense of an efficiency effective mission, in which would improve the quality and accessibility of health care in the management perspective. In this paper we will analyze current ineffective practices, and alternate methods; in regardsRead MoreThe Canadian Health Care System1306 Words   |  6 PagesThe Canadian healthcare system is currently ranked in the top 11 OECD countries making the Canadian healthcare system one of the best in the world, although like all perfect systems, there are always uncovered flaws within. When examining certain attributes and traits within the system, such as accessibility and the general quality of healthcare performance is considered to be low ranking amongst international practices, thus improvements are needed. More importantly, the Canadian health care systemRead Mor eThe Canadian Health Care System1527 Words   |  7 Pagesfor having high standards of health care with free access to all citizens. Despite this being a widely held idea, the reality is that marginalized groups are not experiencing the same standards of health care as other Canadian Citizens. Despite the fact that some researchers say racialization does not play a factor in the level of health care received by people (Guilfoyle 1512), Indigenous Peoples in Canada do not have equal access to the Canadian health care system due to the problems arising fromRead MoreCanadian Health Care System887 Words   |  4 Pageswas not until 1946 that the first Canadian province introduced near universal health coverage. Saskatchewan had long suffered a shortage of doctors, leading to the creation of municipal doctor programs in the early twentieth century in which a town would subsidize a doctor to practice there. Soon after, groups of communities joined to open union hospitals under a similar model. There had thus been a long history of government involvement in Saskatchewan health care, and a significant section of itRead MoreThe Canadian Health Care System1694 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction The Canadian health care system fosters universal and comprehensive access to essential health care services (Flood, 2004). However, there have been debates on what services are necessary as espoused in the Canada Health Act (Caulfield, 1996; Caulfield Zarzeczny, 2014; Charles, Lomas, Giacomini, 1997). Although there are similarities among provinces in terms of core services covered under publicly funded medical care, some variability still exists across provinces (Charles et alRead MoreThe Canadian Health Care System1531 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Emergency departments are considered an important aspect of the health care system. For many years, wait times have been an area of concern for many Canadians and remain a significant issue. One of the major concerns within the Canadian health care system is the amount of time spent as waiting time in the healthcare services. Wait times are the length of time from when the patient is triaged and registered, to when the patient leaves from the emergency room (Affleck, Parks, DrummondRead MoreThe Canadian Health Care System1849 Words   |  8 PagesIntroduction â€Å"Medicare is a Canadian success story. Not perfect, but good enough to be envied by much of the world.† — H.L. Mencken The birth of Medicare was in Saskatchewan on July 1, 1962. Medicare was the first government controlled, comprehensive, universal single payer medical insurance plan in Canada. Many insurance industries and all the medical institutions were against the idea of having Medicare. They feared that Medicare will become popular and will spread across the globe. Once