Sameera Rathnayake
Mr. Weisman
May 11, 2018
Canadian Identity essay
Reforming health care in order to restore the Canadian pride
Maple syrup, ice hockey, igloos, poutine, snow, and peacekeeping: these things conjure Canada in the minds of many around the world. Others will add health to the list, for Canada’s public health care system is one of the oldest, and most celebrated in the world because Canada has comforted to global humanitarian, migration, and medical crises for decades. To more than 90% of Canadians, the healthcare system is a source of collective pride and security, and a key element of being Canadian. To Canadians, the belief that access to health care should be based on need, not the ability to pay, is a defining national value.
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This value survives despite a shared border with the USA, which has the most expensive and inequitable health care system in the developed world. However, Canada’s Medicare, which was once held up as a model system, is overdue and needs renovation. Broadly speaking, better collaboration and management, more funding, and small modifications would improve the model. Small modifications are ideal as we have an attachment to the present system, and love the model. It would be better if the reinforcements and improvements are familiar, and not radical and completely new. To restore its place as a source of national pride, and model of universal health coverage, Medicare must be reformed. In order to achieve that, officials must minimize the waiting time for care, broaden the comprehensiveness, and technical support needs to be modernized. Wait times have been a source of concern in health for many Canadians. In some cases, and jurisdictions it has been a serious problem. Most of Canada’s population have proper and timely access to healthcare for urgent and emergent conditions like heart attacks, strokes, and cancer care. Although for many less serious, and urgent problems, the wait times are as long as weeks, months, or even years. According to Canadian Institutes of Health Information’s (CIHI) 2017 record, against measures of effectiveness, safety, coordination, equity, efficiency and patient-centeredness, the Canadian system is ranked by the Commonwealth Fund as mediocre at best. This is by hook or crook diminishing and deserting Medicare. As we do this, we desert and diminish our commitment to equality, an ideology which most countries believe in and fail to prove. Canada is not most countries. With most vulnerable Canadians benefitting out of the Medicare system, failing to provide timely service could aggravate the citizens. If the Canadians are too frustrated by long wait times, they would go to USA for diagnostic and surgical procedures. By seeking care south of the border, they are giving profits to American hospitals and employment to U.S. health professionals. Does this mean that we as Canadian can longer be proud of our Medicare? The problem can be fixed. There should be clear, measurable wait-time target for access to necessary care. If timely care is not an option, there should be publicly funded alternatives available to patients in need. technology can allow primary care physicians to find the local specialists with the shortest wait times and make digital referrals to them directly, a big improvement over the current system. By hiring more healthcare workers, such as nurses, doctors, surgeons, and lab technicians, as well as maximally utilizing expensive equipment wait times can be reduced. The importance of healthcare to the Canadians and their national identity is nearly impossible to overstate. Therefore, keeping universal, public health care accessible and sustainable for all Canadians is a Canadian responsibility. Canadians are eligible to enjoy all necessary health services to the greatest extent, but currently, provincial health insurance plans do not insure all medically necessary hospital and physician services.
We know many factors influence the health of Canadians in addition to doctors’ care and hospitals. So why does our universal Medicare only restrain its services to doctors’ and hospital services? Canadian Medical Association’s Health Care Transformation proposal states, “Since Medicare was established in the 1960s, care patterns have shifted dramatically – away from being primarily acute care in nature, to broader health needs including prevention, treatment and long-term management of chronic illnesses.” The part of the population and their families who are part of the Canadian work force are covered by annual privately paid health insurances, but those low-income families (part-time, casual, temporary work) are less likely to enjoy such benefits. If Canadians lack mental health services, continuing care, and access to prescription medication, Canada will end up being one of the most unsanitary, unhealthy, and least ideal places live in less than two generations, as health of civilians and social norms define the identity of a nation. Therefore, all Canadians must have access to the full complement of health services. It should include incentives in the system to encourage the prevention of illness, and promote health while addressing the complex contributing pathways affecting health and disease. Furthermore, Canadians must also receive coverage while travelling out of their province or territory. By monitoring the comparability of access to full range access to Medicare all across the nation, it would ensure that all Canadians are treated equally. Better integration of health services would promote equality, by that a peaceful, harmonized, and powerful
Canada. The Canadian health care system is posed a great threat the by the old, cast-off, and disruptive technology. Due to poor technological interruptions, accessibility of health, patient management, and privacy and delivery of health services in Canadian health system has posed a great threat to the patients’ lives under many jurisdictions. Canadians are satisfied about the treatment and diagnosis, once it is delivered, but the system is not as well managed as it should be. The lack of technology can include human resources such as lack of access to see the family physician, overloaded emergency rooms, and unavailability of emergency facilities nearby. Canada’s Medicare might need an inclusive evaluation from diagnostics to distribution, particularly investing in modern technologies, namely mobile and wearable devices, and data analytics. The system is well supported financially, and therefore has the ability purchase good technologies, hire more healthcare workers, and establish more health care centers all across the country. When Tommy Douglas initiated public health insurance in the Prairies in the late 1940s, his initial intentions were to create a model that would support everyone by eliminating the financial barriers, and it took years of struggle to accomplish. The establishment of universal health care system which is free at the point of care for medical services is by far Canada’s most important accomplishments. Medicare define the Canadians’ pride in taking care of one another, and protection and development is important as our health care system is an expression of Equity and unity that runs through the Canadian nerves. The country’s trajectory on health has been tragic, as it is too un-strategic, and fragmented. It is resting on past glories, and many believe that it must be reformed. In order to make it great, all actions called within this paper must be addressed; wait times must be minimized, health care services should be provided to those in need rather than those with the ability to pay, all Canadians must be accessible to health care, better technologies should maximally be utilized, and most importantly, Canada’s aging population must be treated with necessary care. The change must be commenced with patients’ interests, needs, and comfortability. Unlike in most corrupted systems from third world countries, the change should be transformational, and serves the patient, not the contrariwise. By following the footsteps of the developing countries with universal healthcare, and the proposals made within this paper, Canada will come out successful in succeeding this fundamental objective. Canada may be one of the wealthiest, happiest, most peaceful, and most influential countries in the world right now. Canada must move forward in it healthcare more impudently, more action oriented, and with more economic ventures. The world cares, and looks at Canada, because the world, more than ever, needs it global health leader to step up. NOT DONE.
Tommy Douglas was a Canadian social- democratic politician, who became the premier of Saskatchewan in 1944. Tommy Douglas believed that it was his responsibility as premier to improve the lives of ordinary people. In fact, he had experienced firsthand people dying, because they did not have enough money for the treatment they needed. It was from that day he said “If I ever had the power I would, if it were humanly possible, see that the financial barrier between those who need health services and those who have health services was forever removed.” So, when he became premier he enacted the first Medicare plan in Saskatchewan, which in 1972 was adopted in all provinces in Canada. The universal health care system has many advantages and should be adopted by other countries as well. This system would decrease the world’s death rate, there are also many people out there who cannot afford health care and it would be easier with universal health care to have everyone under one system.
Though, Professor Armstrong makes very good connections between health care policy reforms and its impact on women, all of these connections are eclipsed by the values encompassed within the Canada Health Act of 1984. Health care to this day is provided on the basis of need rather than financial means, and is accessible to all that require it. Professor Armstrong’s argument is hinged upon the scope of services provided under the public health insurance system, and the subsequent affect of these reforms on women as the main beneficiaries of these services and as workers in these industries. However, these reforms were made to balance the economy, and the downsizing and cutbacks were necessary steps to be taken with respect to this agenda. Moreover, as aforementioned the access to medical services ultimately comes down to need, and the reforms to date are not conducive to an intentional subordination of female interests in the realm of health care. Therefore, I find Professor Armstrong’s critique on Canada’s public health insurance system to be relatively redundant because the universal access to care encompassed within the Canada Health Act transcends the conditional proponents of her arguments of inequality. In other words, I believe she is
An analysis of the US and Canada’s systems reveals advantages and drawbacks within each structure. While it is apparent that both countries could benefit from the adoption of portions of the others system, Canada’s healthcare system offers several benefits over the US system.
The Canadian health care system promises universality, portability, and accessibility; unfortunately, it faces political challenges of meeting pub...
It is an assumption by many that Canada has one of the best healthcare systems in the world. But do they really? There are numerous health services in Canada which should be part of the universal care nonetheless are not. These include but are not limited to: dental care, vision care, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and prescription drug coverage. This report will solely focus on why basic dental care should be a part of the Canadian universal healthcare. Dental care is predominantly delivered in the private sector on a fee-for-service basis, with approximately 62.6% of Canadians paying for care through employment-based insurance and 31.9% through out-of-pocket expenditures and only a small amount of the Canadians, 5.5%, are qualified for public funding through government assistance programmes (Ramraj and Quinonez, 2012). It was seen that by 2009, dental coverage affordability became a problem not just for the low income families but also impacted middle-income earners as a result of their lack of, or decreased access to comprehensive dental insurance (Ramraj, 2013). It is stated by the World Health Organization that universal health care coverage should reassure access to necessary care and protect patients from financial hardship, and that the governments are obligated to
At the beginning of the 20th century healthcare was a necessity in Canada, but it was not easy to afford. When Medicare was introduced, Canadians were thrilled to know that their tax dollars were going to benefit them in the future. The introduction of Medicare made it easier for Canadians to afford healthcare. Medicare helped define Canada as an equal country, with equal rights, services and respect for every Canadian citizen. Medicare helped less wealthy Canadians afford proper healthcare. Canadian citizens who had suffered from illness because they could not afford healthcare, were able to get proper treatment. The hospitals of Canada were no longer compared by their patients’ wealth, but by their amount of service and commitment. Many doctors tried to stop the Medicare act, but the government and citizens outvoted them and the act was passed. The doctors were then forced to treat patients in order of illness and not by the amount of money they had. Medicare’s powerful impact on Canadian society was recognized globally and put into effect in other nations all around the world. Equality then became a definition which every Canadian citizen understood.
A Canadian Dermatologist who once worked in the United States breaks down the pros and cons of Canada’s health care system and explains why he thinks the Canadian system is superior to America’s. Canada runs a single payer health care system, which means that health care is controlled by the government rather than private insurance companies. One of the main pros of the Canadian health care system is that everyone is insured. He says that in the province of Ontario, the Ministry of Health insures all of its citizens, all important health needs such as physician visits, home nursing and physical therapy are covered. Since every resident is covered under the government plan the problem of patients being turned away due to lacking medical coverage
LaPierre, T. A. (2012). Comparing the Canadian and US Systems of Health Care in an Era of Health Care Reform. Journal of Health Care Finance, 38(4), 1-18.
In Canada, access to health care is ‘universal’ to its citizens under the Canadian Health Care Act and this system is considered to the one of the best in the world (Laurel & Richard, 2002). Access to health care is assumed on the strong social value of equality and is defined as the distribution of services to all those in need and for the common good and health of all residents (Fierlbeck, 2011). Equitable access to health care does not mean that all citizens are subjected to receive the same number of services but rather that wherever the service is provided it is based on need. Therefore, not all Canadians have equal access to health services. The Aboriginal peoples in Canada in particular are a population that is overlooked and underserved
Today, Canada is among the most free and secure countries in the world. Although Canada has gone through some rough patches, like every country is bound to do, it is safe to say that all Canadians should be proud of the country that Canada is today. When faced with the question, “Is Canada a country to be proud of?”, the answer is simple, yes. The justification for this response is explained through many reasons, however a few stand out. These outstanding reasons are, one being Canada’s participation in peacekeeping missions, another being the Canadian charter of human rights, and lastly Canada’s participation in war. All of these three essential reasons substantiate that Canada is truly one of the finest countries in
Lewis, S. (11 December, 2013). Without a Safety Net: What kind of country do Canadians
Today, Canadians are concerned with many issues involving health care. It is the responsibility of the provincial party to come up with a fair, yet reasonable solution to this issue. This solution must support Canadians for the best; it involves people and how they are treated when in need for health care. The Liberal party feels that they have the best solution that will provide Canadians with the best results. It states that people will have the protection of medicare and will help with concerns like: injury prevention, nutrition, physical activity, mental health, etc. The Canadian Alliance Party’s plan is to make several policy-developments to benefit Canada’s health care. They believe it will serve the security and well-being best for all Canadians. The last party involved in this issue is the NDP Party; who indicate that they are fighting hard for a better Health Care system in our economy. The NDP Party states that the income of a family should not dictate the quality of health care.
The introductory of Canada’s health care system in the mid-20th century, known as Medicare, led the country into the proud tradition of a public health care system, opposite to America’s privatized health care system in the south. Though Canada’s health care system still holds some aspects of a privatized system, it is still readily available for all citizens throughout the nation. After continuous research, it is clear to state that public health care and the association it has with welfare state liberalism is by far a more favourable option for Canada, than that of private health care and the association it has with neo-conservatism. To help understand why public health care is a better and more favourable option for Canada, it is fundamental
Martins (2008), concludes that “universal health care is extremely important to all” (p.429). But, a study conducted in Canada, on the accessibility of health care in a universal health care system, found that “20% participants had an Ontario health insurance number but were not in possession of their health insurance card… which almost all health providers require to be presented at each visit” (Hwang et al., 2010, p.1455). This shows that it is not a fact of inaccessibility but it shows that the health care systems are not being advertised as they should be. Only 40% of veterans were found to have insurance (O’Toole et al., 2007, p.447). But the study also showed that 90% of the vets were eligible for coverage.
In a developing country like Canada, new products are continually being produced for use within Canada and to be exported to. other countries for profit. Canada’s healthcare is superior; we are able to eliminate diseases. like the measles. Canada keeps up with the latest technology in medical equipment and medicines to treat Canadians.