Canadian Health Care: A Comprehensive Overview

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the Canadian health care system, including its benefits, challenges, and debates. It explores the coverage, waiting times, private vs public system, and more. Keywords: Health and care, drugs, alcohol, issues, provinces

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Name of the Student
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Canadian Health Care
Keywords: Health and care, drugs, alcohol, issues, provinces
Whenever all the Canadians are seen to have been polled about what has been making
them feel the proudest to be a Canadian, there is always a single answer which always remains at
the top of the list. Canadian system of health care is the answer which remains at the top of the
list maximum time. At the starting of the year 1960, the governments of Canada which are
provincial have started to introduce insurance for health provided by the government which is
sometimes called Medicare. This kind of government insurance of health has been introduced for
paying for the visits to the hospitals, operations and some other types of important medical
services. In the year 1984, the federal government of the country has passed a health act for
Canada which has helped in forcing all the plans of health which are professional for meeting
certain levels or standards of the coverage. The Canada Health Act has also been passed for
outlawing the fees which are mostly charged for the important or the most needed medical
services. Nowadays, almost all the Canadians have been provided with insurance of health which
is very much comprehensive from the birth through several plans of health for the public which
are mainly run by several governments which are provincial. Help for funding has been provided
from Ottawa. The governments which are provincial are recently running several clinics as well
as hospitals with a number of surgeons as well as doctors who are charging for their respective
services directly to the governments. Recently, there are only a few number of hospitals or few
clinics which are being run privately within the country.
The public system of health care of Canada is considered as one of the hugely generous
health cares in the whole world. However, they are also very much expensive to have a proper

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maintenance. In the current years, several state governments are noticed to have been started
scale backing their scope of the coverage of the insurance for making their particular programs
of Medicare much more sustainable as per finance is concerned. Most of the Canadians are often
purchasing private insurance of health which are mostly supplementary for paying several things
such as exams of eye, trips of dentist and some other treatment as well as operation which the
government mainly considers as not being essential. This type of plans are sometimes known as
extended coverage of medicine. This type of medical coverage which has been extended are
provided very often for all the Canadians who are working by their employers as a job’s perk.
The insurance of health which is private cannot pay for all kinds of services which are covered
by a plan of health which will be both public as well as provincial by the law.
There are often debates which are mostly heated in the contemporary politics of the
country. One of the mostly heated debates include the argument that how survival which will be
long termed can be guaranteed for the regime of the health care for the Canadians. It is very
much common for advocating privatisation at a higher level of all the medical services. This
greatly involves all the clinics which are mostly run privately and those which are based upon
fees. This helps the surgeons in providing a huge number of choices for the patients. On the other
hand, folks are considered to be hugely critical of anything which have the capability for
smacking of the edging towards a system which will be two tired, where several Canadians
possessing money can buy their paths into some betterment in the medical care than particularly
those who utilises the system which is public. To a much wider public, it is noticed that people
considers status quo to be sacred very nearly which has led most of the politicians in shying
away from all the proposing reforms which are dramatic.

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Dr. Morgentaler, who was born to a Jewish family in the country Poland, had been able
to survive death in a camp of concentration and was a complex which was frustrating foe for the
groups of pro-life. He is really one of the Canadians about whom several controversies have been
created for all time.
On the other hand, there is a huge relation of drugs and alcohol to that of the heath of the
people. Liquor has been associated with all kinds of social ills within the early country. At
several times, during the twentieth century, most of the provinces are experimented by providing
a ban upon both the sale as well as the production of alcohol in several ways. This kind of era
which is mostly called prohibition is not any kind of solution which is magical hoped by a
number of people. However, by the time of 1920s, most of the states within the country have
altered their laws for re-allowing the alcohol’s sales, but this is done by only within certain type
of regulations which are very much tight or tough. For this particular day, several provinces of
the country of Canada have a number of rules which are very much complicated and they are
capable of providing governance showing both how and where the booze can be sold ultimately.
In some of provinces within the country, drugs as well as alcohols are sold by some of the liquor
stores which are run by the government. In some other provinces, the law of the country may
need both hard beer as well as alcohol for being sold at several locations. It is observed that
almost all forbids the liquor’s sale at shops running for 24hours like those of the stores of the
corner and the supermarkets. Most of the provinces allows all the citizens in brewing but not
selling their personal wine as well as beer, but it is totally against the federal law of the country
for making liquors which will be distilled without possessing any kind of permit. The legal age
for drinking in the country Canada has been seen by all the provinces. In some states like
Manitoba, Quebec as well as Alberta, it has been observed that the age has been set to 18years.

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Other states of the country have the legal drinking age set at 19. Most of the provinces within the
country have very much strict laws against the consumption of alcohol in areas which are public
and have standards which are low for what it constitutes “driving while under the influence”.
Marijuana has been legalised in the country for consuming personally across the whole
country in the year 2018. Theoretically, there are a number of laws present which are very much
strict which is capable of declaring about when, where and how exactly marijuana can be either
sold, bought or rather utilised. On the other hand, there still remains a thing unclear. It is very
confusing about to what degree such rules will be finally enforced. Prior to the year 2008, the
anti-pot laws of the country are seen to be enforced quite rarely and al the offenders faced severe
punishments very rarely particularly in all those cities which are very large. Since the year 2001,
it has been made legal for all the doctors within the country in prescribing marijuana but only for
all the reasons related to medicine. Later on, in the year 2014, the federal government of the
country has finally authorised the license for medicinal marihuana distribution privately. This
decision has resulted in triggering a huge dramatic increment of several pot shops in all the
centres which are urban, most of which are seen to be promoting several definitions which are
rather lazy of the pot “medically necessary”.
A 2005 survey which has been conducted by the College of Family Physicians of the
country, the Medical Association of Canada and Surgeons of Canada have reported that about
more than 4million of the Canadians are not getting access to any family doctor. This kind of
figure has represented about 12% of the overall population of the country in the year 2005. It has
to be noted that the specific term “family doctor” which has been used mainly refers to a
practitioner for the family. It has been found that people do not get access to all the physicians
who practices specifically for family medicines.

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It has even been reported by a number of people within the country that the plan for
health care is not free for Canada and they have to pay a premium per month with an amount of
$96. Each and every province within the country has several options for providing finances for
its particular share of the cost for the insurance plan of the health. Some provinces have to opt
for financing their insurance cost of health through particular payments of premiums. Several
other provinces have their share of finances chosen through a several taxes or some other streams
of revenue. It has also been observed that there are a huge waiting lists which are lying out as
much as about 2years down the path. Actually, the program of the health insurance of the
country becomes very much difficult in accessing as the country possess a huge number of
several programs which are provincial and does not have only a single national program. Hence,
waiting times for the medical processes in particular very broadly across several provinces,
hospitals as well as cities and therefore several course of waiting times varies broadly by
depending upon the process type which has been involved.
By utilising the country’s most popular province Ontario, it has been found that the
waiting times of the provinces which have been measured in the middle of the year 2007 have
come out to be thirteen days for the angioplasty to about two hundred ninety seven days for the
replacements of the knees. The government of the country does not allot or rather sets any set of
quotas depending upon operations for a year given. Patients are both prioritized as well as
scheduled depending upon the urgent cases. The country has been committed for investing huge
amount of dollars in a plan of ten years for the reduction of the time of waiting in accessing
health care. The specific plan of 10 year mainly outlines all the investments which are strategic
as well as directed towards the waiting times which are reducing for accessing care especially for
several services like replacements of joints, restoration of sight, cancer and so on. For supporting

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the reduction time of waiting, the Federal government if the country has committed for investing
about $4.5 million over a period of six years. There has been an issue which has been described
by saying that “forget getting a second opinion, what you see is what you get”. In general, the
plans of health which are provincial do not limit all the patients from visiting one single doctor
each for any kind of medical issue which has been given. Patients may even consult more than
one specialists if they want to choose. Canada is totally different distinct from some other
countries which are industrialised to such an extent that it does not have a private system which
has been running parallel for all the services which are covered by the system for the public.
Medical care which is private within the country is not at illegal, but all the provinces do not
allow employment of a huge number of disincentives for discouraging a private system in
parallel. The disincentives which have been utilised will be varying from one province to the
other. One of the disincentives which can be considered as the main one is the denying the
physicians with the opportunity of working under the insurance plan of the public and also
having patients which are eligible for paying privately. In other words, it can be said that
physicians of the country are forced for choosing if they will be having only patients who are
paying for all the services themselves or rather patients who are mostly covered under public
plans of the provinces. Some other statements have also generated which says “Immigrants are
covered automatically at tax payer expense having never contributed a dollar to the system and
pay no premiums”. All statements regarding the medical coverage of the country are needed to
be qualified with the basic fact that all the procedures as well as the regulations are always
varying from one particular province to the other. Some of the provinces mainly impose all the
periods of waiting which are mandatory on the coverage of health insurance for all the
immigrants. The highest tax rate of the federal income in the country is found to be 29% and the

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highest income tax rate of the province in the British Columbia is found to be 14.7% for all those
which are possessing taxable incomes yearly over and over. The typical taxpayer of the Canada
having upper level of income is not in a tax bracket of 55%.
As per the Canadian Medical Association Journal or CMAJ which has been noted in the
year 2006, several immigrants have ended up by waiting for a huge amount of time than those of
the mandatory coverage periods. All the physicians within the country will be surprised by
knowing that, despite the universal system of health care of the country, many of them who are
residing there legally will never be granted with the public insurance of health. All other
immigrants as well as refugees will be granted with the coverage, but it will be possible only
after delays which will be very long. It will be such that 4 provinces will be imposing with a
mandatory period of three months of the period of waiting. Several programs of the exchange of
needles have been created for providing both clean syringes as well as needles for injecting all
the users of drug which have been operating in several parts of the country since the year 1989.
Several studies of the country of such type of programs have found generally to be very much
inexpensive for preventing higher costs of health care. The level of the coverage of insurance
which has been provided for all the supplies of diabetes like syringes always varies from one
province to the other one.
Some of the provinces often deny any kind of subsidy which will be public to all the
patients of the physician who will be opting for their particular program of Medicare. Some of
physicians belonging to some province are not given with the allowance to opt out of the system
of public for billing patients much more than what they would actually pay under the system of
the public. Other have already banned the private insurance sale for all the services which have

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been covered by the public plan. It is this last disincentive which will be legal and forms the
subject of a recent case in the Supreme Court.
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