Health Care System in US and Canada

Health Care System in US and Canada

Health Care System in US and Canada

Introduction

The United States is studying various proposals for reform of their health care system, and the Canadian system is often seen as a model to consider. Oddly enough, Canada may seek the side of U.S. solutions to improve its own system. This quest for a better system of health care has prompted the publication of extensive documentation but discordant to the relative merits of two systems, one public and one private. While many observers argue that the Canadian public system is both more effective and more economical, others, just as many argue that the American system, especially that obeys the laws of the market, ensures more efficient services and better quality.

In this study, we compare the Canadian and American. In the first part, we look briefly at the pros and cons of government intervention in the health field, while in the second, we compare the two systems in terms of their accessibility, financial barriers that they have their administration and the scope of services covered. In the third section, we discuss cost containment and finally, in the fourth, we compare the quality of care provided by either system. (Armstrong, 2008)



Discussion and Analysis

In Canada, health care is regarded as a public service that should not be subject to market forces or the mechanism of prices and profits. The Americans prefer that government assistance should be reserved for the needy and the private sector takes the lion's share of the market. They maintain that a market dynamic, which is the engine of classical economics; helps contain costs and ensure effective quality services through competition.

In Canada, it usually refers to market failures justify government intervention in health care. In the private sector is the law of supply and demand which governs the distribution of resources. The scale of the resulting price guarantees an optimal distribution of resources, provided that certain conditions concerning the supply and demand are met. However, these conditions are not always present in the field of health. First, it is difficult for the market to ensure a sufficient volume of health services since the very nature of these services involves costs and benefits which the market economy ignores. Second, consumers can not make choices because there are too many unknowns with respect to illness and future health status. Often they do not know what they need and they need to delegate that decision to the very people who deliver health care. Government intervention in the health field is also justified by considerations of social justice and economic inequality. (Steffie, 2003)

The American system is to support the vast majority of people are quite capable to guard against the consequences of the disease and that the bulk of the population will never be denied care for financial reasons. In the context of free competition, the consumer is free to choose its level of ...