Canada's Universal Healthcare System

Healthcare in Canada has been widely defined as equitable and accessible to all citizens of the country. Through a public system, all citizens in Canada have access to needed medical attention without having to pay immense amounts of money. Through this system, regardless of economic status, everyone has the chance to a proper healthcare. However; while the current system sounds ideal, problems have persisted over the years that encourage some Canadians to advocate for expanding privatization in the healthcare system. The idea of embracing a two-tiered health system is heavily debated in Canada and despite the country having embraced a widely public system in the past, arguments both for and against introducing a parallel private sector remain

In Canada “universal coverage for medically necessary health care services [are] provided on the basis of need, rather than the ability to pay” (Government of Canada) and all citizens are guaranteed access to health care despite their financial status. In 1984 the Canada Health Act was passed which replaced federal hospital and medical insurance acts while establishing criteria on portability, accessibility, universality, comprehensiveness, and public administration for health (Canadian Federation of Medical Students [CMFS]). In the public system, the responsibilities outlining healthcare are split between federal and provincial/territorial governments. The federal government currently sets and administers all national principles for the system, acts as the financial support for provinces and territories, and oversees the funding and delivery of primary and supplementary services. Provinces or territories have the most responsibility; they are responsible for the delivery and administration of most services, planning, and implementation of health promotion and public health initiatives and negotiation of fee schedules with hospital employees (CMFS). While health care for the most part in Canada is publicly funded through federal and provincial/territorial taxes, it is only

In a private system, citizens can either pay out of pocket for certain services or, more popularly, go through a health insurance plan that will cover the costs of needed medical procedures. One of the largest countries to use an almost completely private system is the US, here citizens must pay for their own health insurance with the exceptions of those in the poverty who go through Medicaid and those who are over 65 who are able to accept Medicare (Health Affairs.Org). In the US, however, more is spent on healthcare than Canada with both spending, in 2001, $4,884 versus $2,792 respectively and their percentage of GDP is 14% versus 10%, with more funding derived from private- sector spending in the United States (Health Affairs.Org). In Canada, though the majority of healthcare services are publicly funded, sections such as vision and dental care, prescribed drugs, and ambulance costs are often not covered by provincial and federal plans and instead citizens must cover the costs in other ways. In Canada, there are two sections of private care; for-profit and not-for-profit. For-profit may include services such as cosmetic surgeries, extended health benefits like dental care and additional costs like MRI or CT scans while non-for-profit includes homecare and some nursing homes (CMFS). Nevertheless, these sections are not covered by the Canadian government and are part of the small