Canadas Declining Health Care System and the Brain Drain

Canadas Declining Health Care System and the Brain Drain

Canada's government-funded health care system in under attack. Despite the mandate of the Canada health act, which was meant to assure universality, comprehensiveness, equitable access, public administration and portability of our health care system, (Braithwaite 17), Canadians today make the issue of health care their most important political concern. One of the biggest crises the Canadian health care system faces is for strange reasons not in the spotlight when debating the issues, that is the brain drain-Canada losing highly skilled physicians and health care workers to other countries like the U.S. It is time to look at solutions to reverse this popular trend among doctors. A privately funded health care system can rejuvenate health related research in Canada and virtually eliminate the brain drain. By addressing today health care problems, examining what lures our workers to other countries, and applying economic models, a theory to today's problems can be answered.

Canada's health care concerns are primarily the result of federal and provincial cutbacks in an effort to eliminate the deficit (Gordon 1). Under the restructuring, governments have provided less money to the system resulting in hospital closures, lack of hospital beds, and operating rooms, cancellation or reduction of programs and restriction on the availability of new medical technologies (Gordon 3). All these have resulted in limiti...