Comparative Analysis of Canadian and US Healthcare Systems

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Added on 2021/06/16

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This report provides a detailed comparative analysis of the Canadian and United States healthcare systems. It begins by highlighting key differences, such as the publicly funded nature of the Canadian system versus the predominantly private US model, universal coverage in Canada compared to age-based coverage in the US, and equal access for all citizens in Canada versus disparities in the US. The report examines health expenditure, comparing the percentage of GDP spent on health in both countries and exploring the financing mechanisms. It further delves into health expenditure by use of funds, the sources of finance for public health, and the coverage provided by public and private sectors. Health outcomes, including infant mortality rates and life expectancy, are compared. The report also discusses the underlying trends of health spending, building blocks of the Canadian health system (governance), health workforce, and health technology. Finally, it touches upon health reform and implementation in both countries, with a focus on the impact of various policies and initiatives. The report concludes with a cost-effective analysis, emphasizing the importance of systematic and quantitative analysis in healthcare decision-making.

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HEALTH SYSTEMS AND ECONOMICS
THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN CANADA
INTRODUCTION
The health sector is the most crucial in a country’s economic development. Every country across
the world depends largely on the well being of its people, the good health of its inhabitants for its
development. Hence, they end up investing so much in the health sector to secure a rise in the
economy. Taking Canada as an example, there is a difference between the Canadian and the
USA health care system, they include the following;
BODY
In Canada, most health care systems are publicly funded while in the USA, they have a heavily
private health system. In Canada, they have a universal health coverage while in USA, the
universal health coverage is dependent on age (those above 65 years). In Canada, all citizens
enjoy equal access to health care while in the USA, 1/5 of its population are uninsured. In
Canada, they use a single payer system while in USA they use a hybrid system.
Checking on the percentage of the GDP upon health, the world spent 10% of global GDP on
health. According to {CIHI (Canadian Institute for Health Information), 2017}, the percentage of
GDP on heath is represented as 11.5% in Canada while in the USA 18%. OECD average (2015)
showed 8.9% of the GDP was spent on heath. According to (CIHI, 2014), the percentage of GDP
on health is represented as 10% in Canada and 16.5% in the USA, (CIHI, 2015), 10.4% in
Canada and 17% in USA and (CIHI, 2016), 10.6% in Canada and 17.2% in the USA. Canada’s
health spending as share of GDP and life expectancy (10.4%0) is higher than the OECD average
(8.9%) in 2015 (CIHI, 2017).

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The health care system financing in Canada, Health care in Canada gets its funds from the
general incomes of the provincial, the territorial and the federal governments. Most of the
territorial funding for health care is got from general tax income. In addition, the allocation of
funds for the planning of publicly funded health insurance is done by the health care networks.
The total health expenditure upon health in 2017 reached 242 billion Canadian dollars ($CA),
spending per capita 5,782 $CA. In 2016, expenditures for public health was 13,428.4 $CA for
PH (Public Health) spending occupies 5.5% of total health spending (Mossialos, Djordevic,
Osborn, & Sarnak, 2017).
Health expenditure by use of funds, (CIHI, 2107), the expenditure of shares have changed
over time for three big spending divisions, health specialists, hospitals and drugs. The percentage
expenditure is, hospitals 29.5, drugs 16 and health specialists 15.3. The remainder 39.2 of the
health care expenditure is accounted for other institutions which was 10.6 of the total in the
year 2014, while health specialists including the vision and dental accounted for 9.9. The main
sources of finance for public health, 2014, was the provincial/territorial government 77%,
followed by federal government 16%, and then the municipal government 4%, and social
security funds 3% (CIHI, 2017).
In Canada, publicly financed health care covers 70% that is, provincial and territorial
government 65%, other public sectors 5% (covers almost all services: physician, diagnostic and
hospital services). The private health insurance covers 30%, that is, private insurance 12%, OOP
15%, Other 3% like vision specialists. Financing is different in terms of health care goods and
services. Hospitals and health specialists are financed by the public sector as entailed in the
Canada Health Care Act, while medical drugs are financed from private-sector sources.
Countries that use and invest much in health care have better health outcome than countries that

use less on the same. The infant mortality rate in 1000 live births, 2016 for Canada was 4.9%
while the USA had a 6.5% rate. Canada had an average life expectancy, 2016 of 82.2% while the
USA had a 79.3% rate. The underlying trends of Health spending in Canada, (CIHI, 2017) show
that 23.8% was spent on hospitals with an average 1,871 $CA per person while 16.4% was spent
on drugs with an average of 1086 $CA per person and 15.4% was spent on physicians with an
average 1,014$CA per person (CIHI, 2017).
Health spending in Canada, 2017, Hospitals, Drugs, and Physicians spending occupied 55.6%
of the total health expenditures, $ 242 billion. Spending on hospitals is growing slowly than
before, annual growth in hospital expenses dropped 2.5% in 2015-2016 compared to 6.4% in
2010-2011. As the number of people who once treated in hospital tend to be treated as
outpatients /from inpatient to outpatients. Health spending by age group in Canada, 2015
showed that 51%of the health spending was between ages 1to 64 years, 46% was for the 65 years
and above while the under 1 year occupied a 3% (CIHI, 2017).
Building blocks of the health system (governance) - In Canada, governance, health facilities
and services are highly decentralized for three reasons below: a) Provincial responsibility for the
funding and delivery of health care facilities; b) Physicians being independent workers; c)The
evolution of many institutions, from regional health authorities to privately owned hospitals.
(Marchildon, 2013). Building blocks in the Canadian health system is due to; shortage of health
workers, long waiting time in health sector and lack of educated infrastructures is done by:
inputting strong leadership skills, ensuring that there is a good informational management,
employing educated healthcare workforce, ensuring a stable service delivery, improved medical
products and technology and ensuring an enough healthcare financing (Esmaily & Barua, 2018).
Health workforce is one of the key health resource indicators. Canada and the USA had the same

number of doctors /practicing/ in 2015 while Austria had the highest number of doctors 5.1%
per 1000 inhabitants in 2015 (Marchildon, 2013).
Nursing statistics- the number of nurses in 1000 inhabitants, 2015 according to (CIHI, 2016),
show that more registered nurses are entering the health profession 19,124 than those leaving
17,107. The supply of these registered nurses to health institutions grew by 8.9% from 2007 to
2016 (CIHI, 2017).
Health technology and equipment, CT scan in 1000 and MRI units in 1 million population,
OECD 2015- The USA spends more than the OECD, according to OECD, the USA health care
prices 25% more than the average OECD in the year 2005. United States ranked first on the
availability of health C.T scanners and M.R.I units among OECD countries, while Canada
ranked low on the two (CIHI, 2017).
Health reform and implementation:
Reform from the federal government- 1.policy changes and easy skill migration, 2.Training of
manpower, 3. benefits to medical workers.
From health authority- 1.Development of health institutions. 2.Chronic disease research and
prevention. 3.Develop a patient- centred system
From local health body- 1.Community health development, 2.Community medicine and
rehabilitation, 3. Community recreation activities (Bekelman, et al., 2016).
In conclusion, the cost-effective analysis show that (economic analysis), there are scarce
resources, systematic analyses are more reliable and quantitative analysis generally results in
better decision making which leads to the following impacts; access incremental impact, benefits

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and costs- over and above in the absence of policy, conceptualize the policy : two scenarios; one
that does not include the policy and the other does include the policy.
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