Health care is one of the most critical areas supporting the civil sector. It includes many aspects that ensure the well-being of the population. However, different types of this system may show efficiency or stagnation in areas such as the cost of care, access and quality. Many countries are developing this industry in various ways, which may require a comparative analysis to better understand healthcare differences and pros and cons in the United States and Canada.
Care Quality
Canada and the United States have radically different healthcare systems that vary primarily in the privatization. The Canadian medical sector is fully funded by the government, while the private approach prevails in the US (Béland et al., 2021). This difference affects that in Canada, quality care is available to all citizens since the state directly funds clinics. In the United States, not all healthcare facilities provide the same quality of care. According to Laupland et al. (2022), Canada ranks ninth globally for health outcomes, while the US ranks 11th. This confirms that the state principle of operation of the sphere in question shows the best results in the quality of care. In the US, overall life expectancy is also lower than in Canada (Kapila et al., 2021). All these facts allow concluding that the quality of care in the United States, although reasonably high, is worse than in Canada.
Care Cost
Citizens’ tax revenues are the basis for funding the health care system in Canada. Thus, Canada’s health spending in 2020 was CAD 275 billion, which equates to CAD 7,384 per person (Chen et al., 2020). At the same time, the US costs are much higher and should be expected to provide a more significant result (Hartman et al., 2020). Americans are forced to pay for health insurance and regularly refinance emergency treatment. This entails high financial costs, regardless of the scope of medical care. At the same time, Canadians do not have to pay any additional insurance or emergency fees, which makes their medicine completely free for citizens. Thus, the cost of care is substantially less in Canada since it is fully included in taxation.
Access to Medical Care
In Canada, it can be said that all citizens have access to medical care due to the above factors. There are no financial barriers to health care as the public system fully covers it. However, there is a barrier to accessing medicine in the form of waiting times for non-emergency procedures (García-Corchero, & Jiménez-Rubio, 2022). In the United States, access to care is primarily driven by the client’s financial burden, making it difficult for low-income individuals to receive assistance. Insufficient insurance, in many cases, can be a reason for refusing medical care in such cases.
WHO’s Role in Providing Healthcare
A clear example of how WHO can influence the global health situation and provide assistance to people can be the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization has been working with all governments to coordinate better and manage the situation (Dada et al., 2021). In this way, they have managed to better manage the spread of the disease thanks to widespread assistance and joint investment. Another example of assistance is the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. At that time, WHO cooperated with local governments providing them with all the necessary instructions and medical assistance. Thus, it can be said that WHO has a strong influence on the health situation in the world.
Conclusion
The systems of care and assistance to people have significant differences in the US and Canada. They exhibit different qualities and areas of accessibility and cost of treatment. Thus, considering all the available factors, it can be said that the healthcare system in Canada is more advanced and advanced in providing care to all people. The World Health Organization also dramatically influences the health situation in all countries by providing assistance and assistance.
References
Béland, D., Dinan, S., Rocco, P., & Waddan, A. (2021). Social policy responses to COVID‐19 in Canada and the United States: Explaining policy variations between two liberal welfare state regimes. Social Policy & Administration, 55(2), 280-294. Web.
Chen, I., Thavorn, K., Yong, P. J., Choudhry, A. J., & Allaire, C. (2020). Hospital-associated cost of endometriosis in Canada: A population-based study. Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology, 27(5), 1178-1187. Web.
Dada, S., Ashworth, H. C., Bewa, M. J., & Dhatt, R. (2021). Words matter: political and gender analysis of speeches made by heads of government during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Global Health, 6(1). Web.
García-Corchero, J. D., & Jiménez-Rubio, D. (2022). Waiting times in healthcare: Equal treatment for equal need? International Journal for Equity in Health, 21(1), 1-14. Web.
Hartman, M., Martin, A. B., Benson, J., Catlin, A., & National Health Expenditure Accounts Team. (2020). National health care spending in 2018: Growth driven by accelerations in Medicare and private insurance spending. Health Affairs, 39(1), 8-17. Web.
Kapila, V., Jetty, P., Wooster, D., Vucemilo, V., & Dubois, L. (2021). Screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms in Canada: 2020 review and position statement of the Canadian Society for Vascular Surgery. Canadian Journal of Surgery, 64(5), E461-E466. Web.
Laupland, K. B., Townsend, S. C., & Schwartz, I. S. (2022). The rose-coloured glasses are cracked. Official Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada, 7(3), 159-162. Web.