Comparing access, cost, quality, and continuity in U.S. and Canadian healthcare systems

U.S. Vs. Canada Health System

Comparing Two Health Systems:

The United States vs. Canada

Healthcare has become an issue of great importance in the United States. It has dominated debates everywhere. During the upcoming election, it is certain that healthcare will be on minds ranging from recent college graduates, to senior citizens and will be hotly debated on television. For those who have never experience anything but the American system, government provided or "nationalized" healthcare seems almost socialist. However, a more attainable, affordable, and even social-tendency-based health system could not hurt America. Yet the question, of course, remains whether America would benefit from such a system over its vast territory. Though the President has enacted reforms, it remains to be seen how these will be carried out and improved upon. In an effort to better understand various health systems, therefore, this paper will focus on a comparison between the United States and the Canadian system, and will evaluate four areas: access, cost, quality and continuity.

Canada

The Canadian health system, in contract with the U.S. health system, is publicly funded and is mostly free for citizens. Thus, access is of relative ease, and cost is relatively low. The system's website states that,

"The federal government, the ten provinces, and the three territories have key roles to play in the health care system in Canada. Health Canada's mandate is to help Canadians maintain and improve their health."

One must ask, then, if everything is mostly free in Canada, which is a similar system as in Europe, what, then is the quality of this, and the continuity. For one, continuity is relatively constant, due to the low cost and the ease of access. Quality, then, is said to be of the utmost importance and of the highest degree by the Health website mentioned above. According to a Gallup poll, the Canadian people were actually the most satisfied with their health care systems and with its quality, which leads one to believe that, in fact, the quality in Canada is quite comparable to that in the United States.

The latter country was, in fact, found to have the most dissatisfied customers on the issue, at 44%.

Both the United States and the Canadian systems have their merits. However, the Canadian system is much more cost helpful, at least for the person seeking to be covered. The United States, especially for those unemployed or those who do not necessarily have the funds, presents quite an impediment and seems to have the most dissatisfaction in terms of the quality of healthcare and the access that it provides, leaving a population with hope for reform.

Chua, K.P. (2006). "Overview of the U.S. Health Care System." Working Paper. Retrieved September 9, 2011, from .

Based on own experience of healthcare coverages and some data from Empire Blue insurance in New York State.

"Health Care System." (2011). Health Care Canada. Retrieved September 9, 2011, from .

Blizzard, R. (2003). "Health Care System Ratings." Gallup. Retrieved September 9, 2011, from .