A Comparative Economic Analysis of US and Canadian Healthcare Systems

This essay offers a comprehensive economic evaluation of the healthcare systems in the United States and Canada, comparing and contrasting their key features, access to care, and associated costs. It delves into the US system's reliance on private sector involvement, the impact of the Affordable Care Act (Obama-care), and policies under the Trump administration, such as 'American patients first'. The essay then examines the Canadian system, highlighting its government-governed structure, the National Health Insurance (NHI) program, and the role of the Canadian Health Act. A detailed comparison reveals the cost-effectiveness of the Canadian system, where the government funds healthcare, versus the US system, which is largely driven by private insurance and faces higher costs. The conclusion emphasizes the economic benefits of the Canadian model and the influence of political factors on the US healthcare system, while also acknowledging the efforts of both countries to enhance their systems and deliver quality services.

Economic evaluation of
health care systems of
Canada and US

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EVALUATION OF HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS OF US AND CANADA
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Special features of US health care system.................................................................................1
PPACA (Patient protection and affordable care Act) or Obama-care...................................1
Policies of Donald Trump related to health care system of the country................................2
Special features of Canada health care system..........................................................................2
Comparison of health care systems of Canada v/s US...............................................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................5

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EVALUATION OF HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS OF US AND CANADA
Introduction
In this essay a comparison and contrast will be done with Canadian health care system
and US health care system. Both health care systems are compared on the basis of their
access to the people of the country and their cost. An economic evaluation will be done for
both the systems in order to know the benefits and services provided by the health care
system to the people of the country. The various aspects of both the systems are scrutinized in
order to understand about their usability and fairness.
Special features of US health care system
In US health care systems is largely owned and governed by private sector. The health
care system is offered various medical services to the people of the country like clinical
services, medical insurance and universal health care programs. According to a survey, 58%
of hospitals are non-profit organisations, 21% are government owned organisations and the
rest 21% are profit making organisations. Usually American people take care of their health
with the help of private health care systems. They rarely take the help of government in
improving their health (association, 2020).
Around 67.5% of American is equipped with private health insurance. According to a
survey, 64.5 million people are covered by medical aid facilities. However the private health
care sectors usually cover a lot of services in its medical aid facilities whereas when the
services offered by the government it covers only some major areas of health. Currently, 26
million Americans have no health insurance (Goran Ridic, 2012).
However, the US healthcare system is also very advanced and providing wide range
of clinical services but it is very costly because of the private ownership in most of the
hospitals. The medical facilities like counselling with physician cost of different tests and
surgical, dental or operational facilities are too costly for the common people of the country.
Majority of the population of the country is insured by their employer at their workplaces (S
Jonas, 2007).
PPACA (Patient protection and affordable care Act) or Obama-care

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EVALUATION OF HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS OF US AND CANADA
In 2010, this health care plan was passed by the government of US by the president
Barack Obama. This legislation consists of various types of health related provisions. It
involved the coverage of millions of Americans who are still uninsured with health care
policies. This Act is also trying to minimize the health care cost. It also focuses over the
improvement in the health care system of the country. This law extend the Medicaid services
to the various states of the country (medicaid.gov, 2020).
Policies of Donald Trump related to health care system of the country
In 2018, Trump released a scheme related to health care system named as ‘American
patients first’ inside the country which focuses over lowering the cost of prescribed drugs.
The president finds that costly drugs are responsible for making the health system of the
country very expensive for low and middle class people. It weakens the Obama-care policy
but it did not replace it (AMADEO, 2020).
Special features of Canada health care system
The health care system of Canada is governed by the government authorities. For
example Canada has a national health insurance program named NHI which covers the whole
population of Canada which offers different well-defined medical care services. NHI is a kind
of single payer system where only a third and single party is responsible for paying health
care providers against their medical services. All the hospitals receives budget from the
government (P Tsasis, 2019).
The Canadian health care system works on following Canadian Health Act, which is
adopted in 1984. This act explains the conditions on which bases the health insurance
programs are take place inside the country. This includes all types of services for the well-
being of the people of the country like hospital services, doctors and health care
professional’s services. The health care system of Canada is famous for his coverage of wide
range of services related to health of the clients. The health care system is Canada is widely
known as Medicare system which is known as the most well-known health care system
throughout the World. In spite of having a large geographical area with diversified
population, the government of Canada is very efficient in managing its healthcare system and
providing quality services to the people of the country (P Tsasis, 2019).

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EVALUATION OF HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS OF US AND CANADA
The people of Canada are free to choose any health care plan which is providing by
any health care Company and the cost will be bear by the government of the country. The
national government allocated the fund to the different province and territories of Canada for
ensuring about healthy and better physical conditions of their people that is why the health
care system of Canada ranks very well among the other health care systems of the country.
The country is also providing regular pharmacists for ensuring about the quality of prescribed
drugs and treatment provided to the people of the country (EPHPP, 2020).
However in spite of giving free of cost medical services to the people of the country,
there are some challenges exists which is faced by the health care system of Canada. The
aboriginal population of Canada is still not receiving the complete benefit from the
government of the country (L Wylie, 2019). The health care system of Canada has to be more
focused on improving the health of aboriginal population by providing them good medical
care by the government of the country (EPHPP, 2020).
Comparison of health care systems of Canada v/s US
Canadian health care system is provided almost free of cost services to the member of
its country. The average cost of per person health care services in Canada is around $5,789
which is endure by the government of the country that is why it can be said that health care
services are very cheap in Canada. Each territory and province of the country is provided
federal health plans which is funded by the government of the country (Bindman, 2020). All
the plans and policies provided by the various territory and province of the country are
following the rules and regulations of CHA (Canadian Health Act).
On the other hand, US health care system is one of the most costly health care
systems. The private hospitals are charging a lot of charges and fees for providing quality of
clinical services (WH Shrank, 2019). Most of the people of America are taking care of their
help without the assistance of the government. There are numerous private health insurance
companies are working in US and helping the people by providing various health care
services (insurance.org, 2020). However the government is providing Medicaid for some
particular group of people like low-income group, pregnant women, children, aged people
and physically disabled people. The country is providing Medicaid to this group of people at
a low cost (Tunstall, 2020).

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EVALUATION OF HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS OF US AND CANADA
The government of Canada is spending a lot on its health care policies whereas the
government of US do not think about handling the total cost of the health care facilities, it
only focusses over the reduction in the cost of drugs. Moreover privatisation in the US health
care system is responsible for charging a high cost against providing basic health care
services (Care, 2020).
Conclusion
After the analysis of the special features of the health care system of both the
countries, it can be said that economically Canadian health care system is beneficial for the
people of the country. The US health care system is focused over the private health care
organisations and that is why it is an expensive health care system whereas the Canadian
health care systems providing free of cost medical services to its people because almost all
the expenses bear by the government of the country.
The political issues are giving high impact over the effectiveness of health care
system of the US because the health policies are changing with respect to change in the
political leaders inside the country. However, both of the countries are trying to improve their
health care system by overcoming the challenges which they are facing from a long time. The
health care systems are adopting latest techniques to reach its people in minimum time with
excellent services. However the effectiveness of health care services of both of the countries
is good but the only difference is in the difference in the cost and ownership of health care
institutes of both of the countries.

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EVALUATION OF HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS OF US AND CANADA
References
AMADEO, K. (2020). Donald Trump on Health Care. Retrieved February 13, 2020, from
https://www.thebalance.com/how-could-trump-change-health-care-in-america-
4111422
association, A. h. (2020). Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2020,
from https://www.aha.org/statistics/fast-facts-us-hospitals
Bindman, A. (2020). Rising Prices and Health Care “Empires”. JAMA Health Forum, 1(1).
Care, C. H. (2020). Effective Public Healthcare Panacea Project. Retrieved February 13,
2020, from https://www.ephpp.ca/
EPHPP. (2020). Health care issues in Canada. Retrieved February 13, 2020, from
https://www.ephpp.ca/lets-talk-about-health-care-issues-in-canada/
Goran Ridic, S. G. (2012). Comparisons of Health Care Systems in the United States,
Germany and Canada. Journal of the academy of medical sciences of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, 24(2), 112-120.
insurance.org, h. (2020). Affordable Care Act (ACA). Retrieved February 13, 2020, from
https://www.healthinsurance.org/glossary/affordable-care-act/
L Wylie, S. M. (2019). Insiders' insight: discrimination against indigenous peoples through
the eyes of health care professionals. Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities,
6(1), 37-45.
medicaid.gov. (2020). Medicaid. Retrieved February 13, 2020, from
https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/index.html
P Tsasis, N. A. (2019). An Embedded Systems Perspective in Conceptualizing Canada's
Healthcare Sustainability. Sustainability, 11(2), 531.
S Jonas, R. G. (2007). An introduction to the US health care system. New York City:
Springer.
Tunstall, L. (2020). Backgrounder: Making Sense of the U.S. Health Care System: A Primer.
Retrieved February 13, 2020, from https://evidencenetwork.ca/backgrounder-making-

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sense-of-the-u-s-health-care-system-a-primer-2/
WH Shrank, T. R. (2019). Waste in the US health care system: estimated costs and potential
for savings. Jama, 322(15), 1501-1509.