Table of Contents
Introduction
The United Nations made a resolution towards universal healthcare. This was in line with the millennium development goals. Therefore, each country is under obligation to ensure that its citizens are well catered for by rolling out comprehensive healthcare programs (Knowles, Lowery & Schaumberg 2010). There has been a lot of debate when comparing the healthcare systems of Canada and the United States. In order to better understand and appreciating the remodeling of the Health Insurance system in America, like that of Canada, one must examine the Success that Canada has made in the provision of a comprehensive Health insurance system that could be emulated by the United States.
Provision of Health Insurance in US and Canada
Quality healthcare to citizens is quite pivotal. The right to access proper heath care is a core foundation for any progressive society. Healthy citizens are guaranteed of a stable economy because the proactive workforce of human personnel. It is important to pinpoint that Canada is among some of the countries of the in Europe and the larger America that has adopted the progressive Health Insurance system. The success achieved by Canada is therefore worth emulating by the United States (Marmor, Oberlander & White, 2009).
The healthcare system that was introduced during the Obama regime has a number of pitfalls. Thousands of citizens are at risk. Citizens who cannot afford healthcare are at the risk of dying. This explains the reasons why thousands of Americans continue to die under the Obama care due to lack of insurance that covers health of the Americans
The Health Insurance system in Canada has been considered far and wide as a possible model for the US. The Health Insurance system of the two countries differs tremendously. While Canada has a single player that is publicly funded, the United States healthcare system is a multi-player that is privately ran. However, the two countries are culturally similar. It is therefore possible for the United States to adopt the Canadian healthcare system
It is important to pinpoint that by far the Canadian healthcare system delivers better and comprehensive Health Insurance system and ensures that the citizen’s government distributes its resources more equitably much far better that what happens in the United States system. The Canadian healthcare system has a lot of programs and comprehensive policies that the American system would learn from. It is noteworthy to pinpoint that there is no healthcare stem the world over that has no limitation. The Canadian system is known to be simple, quite affordable and universal.
Canada is known to provide universal access to Health Insurance for all its citizens. In America on the other hand, 1 out of 5 citizens is uninsured. This has occasioned a massive ruction of Canada’s GDP on healthcare. Infant mortality as well as life expectancy are greatly affected other than the healthcare system (Tesler, 2012). A likely example is the low birth weight which is associated mostly to substance abuse and smoking among women in the USA. Therefore, cases of infant mortality are mostly affected by lifestyle behavior than it is with the system of healthcare that has been adopted in the country.
In order to comprehensively assess the effectiveness of the Canadian Health Insurance and that of the US, a joint Canada /US commission was put in place too assess the success of the different healthcare systems in both countries especially after the adoption of the Obama universal healthcare system. There was so much discrepancy in the way the US was running its initiative. The United States should consider emulating the Canadian system due to the success it has generated as compared to the progressive Obama universal healthcare system (Tesler, 2012).
In order to make its system effective and productive, the system should have a single player and should equally be publicly funded in order to deliver better healthcare systems and distribute resources more equitably. There is a need for the US and Canadian healthcare systems to explore whether the high expenditure in the United States would translate into the health benefits.
Free health care for Americans just like Canadians shares a number of similarities and differences from the policies that govern its establishment to the way it is implemented. However, Canada’s Health Insurance system enjoys superior policies and transparency as well as its implementation. The United States therefore can learn a lot from it. For Health Insurance system to be adopted there must be legislation and taxation. Legislation that is put in place for Health Insurance system provides the basis through which the program could be rolled out as well as how it would be implemented.
Canada and the US had similar programs and policies on the provision of healthcare systems. This was before Canada made tremendous changes in the way it offered healthcare services to its citizens in the years of 1960s and 1970s. The US on average spent exorbitant amounts of money in the provision of better healthcare services than is with Canada. The large expenditure affects the per-capita expenditure and as a percentage of GDP (Obama, 2008). It is clear that Americans have been reluctant to pay huge amounts of money that would facilitate the Health Insurance system as is the case with Canada. It is interesting to note that the richest country in the world does not have a comprehensive Health Insurance system for its citizens. It is undeniable that proper healthcare plays a significant role in the economic development of the country. It plays a role in the reduction of bankruptcy, improvement of public health as well as reduction of spending on overall healthcare.
In Canada everyone is covered by a comprehensive healthcare insurance plan at birth and everybody is covered for in the entire country. It is projected that under the Obama initiated medical program over 31 million Americans are still uninsured and will remain uninsured even by the year 2023.The Obama system is deliberately tailored to treat people and ensure their welfare is well taken care of but it is not initiated for profit making. The system in the United States does not recognize the insurance industry and it is driven with the aim of making profits (Tesler, 2012).
The Canadian system is not dependant on the type of job one holds and it does not also depend on ones income. The rich and the poor are all covered in the same system which guarantees quality for all. It is notable to outline that the Health Insurance system in Canada covers the entire life. Under the Obama care, millions of Americans can only access healthcare if one can afford it.
The Canadians love their healthcare system and always try to defend it. This is contrary to the case in the US. The citizens in the US, including the physicians and other healthcare providers, greatly prefer the Canadian healthcare system because of the convenience as well as the choice to choose the doctors as well as the hospital one should go to.
The Canadian administration of the Health Insurance system is quite simple. Citizens are issued with health care cards during their birth and what one requires is to swipe the card when visiting a doctor or a hospital. However in the United States, there are numerous regulations which are so complex. This makes access of medical care quite problematic.
The American government should endeavor to adopt the Canadian Health Insurance system that ensures that the medical services are quite affordable to all American citizens. The budget for medical healthcare is one of the top financial problems in the United States. In a study conducted in 2012, Researchers project that the cost of family healthcare insurance premiums has increased tremendously to a high percentage of 80% in US.The bill to implement single payer Health Insurance system should be implemented as a matter of priority. This would motivate the citizens to save money with the aim of receiving guaranteed access to medical care (Obama, 2008).
It is undeniable that when citizens have a comprehensive Health Insurance system, the chances of improved economic productivity is guaranteed. Citizens, who have access to an elaborate Insurance plan will always live healthier lives, will attend to jobs frequently which translates to an improvement in the country’s economy. A healthy population is one of the important assets that a country can have. When the poor and the less fortunate people are able to access quality medical care, the government would spend less. Countries like Canada that have universal medical and Health care Insurance have a stable economy.
It is undeniable that the United States is composed of wealthy citizens.There is need therefore for the country to offer proper healthcare for its citizens. Adoption of a healthcare Insurance system like that of Canada would offer benefits especially for the private business. If the government of the United States adopted such a healthcare program, private businesses would benefit also since they would not be required to pay for the health insurance policies of the employees. The Council on foreign Relations suggests that the cost that is incurred by private business in offering health insurance policies becomes a disadvantage on the international market place.
The United States Constitution supports greatly the right to healthcare. All American citizens are supposed to enjoy the unalienable Rights that ensures that they have the right to life liberty as well as the pursuit of happiness. Proper healthcare therefore entails having healthcare needed to preserve life. It is the prerogative of the government to ensure that the health and welfare of the citizens is taken care off.
The adoption of the universal healthcare system in the United States has a number of benefits. Adoption of the right to healthcare lowers the cost of healthcare. A sturdy conducted in 2013 postulates that total public healthcare cost could reduce by $592 billion in 2014 due to a decrease in administrative and prescription drug costs. A competitive healthcare insurance in the United States could save a lot of lives especially for people who are unable to access adequate medical care. A study in 2011 revealed that over 13000 citizens died due to old age. These deaths have been occasioned by lack of a comprehensive health insurance system (Obama, 2008).
A right to health care, which should be enjoyed by all Americans, could encourage entrepreneurship by the American citizens. Many people equally scared to initiate their own business enterprises because they do not want incur expenses in providing health insurance services
Conclusion
Provision of proper healthcare is the cornerstone of any just society. Proper healthcare has the potential to preserve the people’s ability to actively engage in the social, political as well as economic life. A country that makes a bold decision to implement universal healthcare must enact programs aimed at extending healthcare services to its citizenry as well as setting up of minimum standards. The United States is credited for having successfully implemented Subsidized public education as well as enforcement of public law and other public services with the aim of promoting a just and fair country to everyone. The issue of free universal healthcare should therefore not be isolated. There is need to emulate the healthcare insurance plan as practiced in Canada if the US is to realize progress in the newly adopted Universal healthcare initiative.
We can do it today.
- Knowles, E. D., Lowery, B. S., & Schaumberg, R. L. (2010). Racial prejudice predicts opposition to Obama and his health care reform plan. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(2), 420-423.
- Marmor, T., Oberlander, J., & White, J. (2009). The Obama administration’s options for health care cost control: hope versus reality. Annals of Internal Medicine, 150(7), 485-489.
- Obama, B. (2008). Affordable health care for all Americans: the Obama-Biden plan. Jama, 300(16), 1927-1928.
- Obama, B. (2008). Modern health care for all Americans. New England Journal of Medicine, 359(15), 1537-1541.
- Tesler, M. (2012). The spillover of racialization into health care: How President Obama polarized public opinion by racial attitudes and race. American Journal of Political Science, 56(3), 690-704.