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Canada’s Health Care System: Dissed in America

by investor on 07/04/09 at 8:18 pm

When U.S. President Barack Obama recently announced his intention to create a public health care system that would be accessible and affordable for all Americans, he touched off a firestorm of criticism with some south of the border saying Canadian-style health care is not the way to go.

The critics say that Canada has long wait times, inadequate access to diagnostic equipment, and a shortage of specialists, making our health care system a poor example to emulate.

Some of the criticisms about the Canadian system heard in the U.S. include:

Canadians [have] to wait more than a year to get hip replacements, with some patients ending up addicted to pain killers due to the long wait. We Americans will never put up with a system like that.
Health Care Reform Analysed at United Way Meeting. Bill Corley, Indianapolis Star

Routine care in Canada is pretty good – just hope you aren’t really sick or have a chronic condition.
Canada isn’t Utopia. Howard Wilkin, Desert News Are these criticisms accurate?

Canada’s publicly-funded system is founded on the principle of universality, meaning that everyone is entitled to the same services regardless of their ability to pay. Last year, we spent $172 billion on our system. On a per capita basis, we spend 48% less than in the United States, where health care is not universal and some 47 million people do not have health care coverage.

Canadians live longer than Americans and appear to have similar or better health outcomes in most aspects of healthcare. Despite the significant amount of money Americans are spending, are they getting value for their money?

Are Canadians and Americans getting value for the money we spend on our health care systems? What do you think?

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