health care system in Canada

health care system in Canada

Introduction

The health care system in Canada is one of the major systems which holds the pride of Canadians due to the good system.  The Canadian holds it as a defining characteristic and one of the examples which differentiate itself from other states, including Americans.  For over 50 years, the health system in Canada has received support from all the political parties and the governments in general.  The health care system in Canada is being ruled at the provisional level.  Regardless of its high standards and popularity, the health care system in Canada faces the issue of cost and accessibility.

According to Lesley (et al., …), the system (Canadian health care) is one of the most expensive systems in the world, posing a challenge to Canadian citizens.  According to the author of this article, this issue concerning the cost of health care can be faced out only by changing its landscape when it comes to the aging community.  In addition to this, a more robust leadership will help in bringing a better health care system in the coming years.

For over several years, healthcare in Canada has been questioned despite being ranked as one of the best systems in the world.  For instance, many have questioned its accessibility.  It is indicated that most of the citizens in Canada access world-class care timely for emergent and urgent issues such as stroke, cancer, and heart attack.  However, for the less emergent issues, the citizens tend to wait for long.   Also, according to the author, those patients who need surgeries such as cataract, knee, and hip or seek consultation tend to wait for long before receiving the services.

Cost is one of the issues that most Canadian are face when accessing health care.  This makes most of the citizens only to seek medical assistance when they are faced with major health issues and try to hold on for longer when faced with minor health issues.   According to Lesley et al….., other medical services and treatment are not covered publicly, and such cost is covered directly by the citizens of Canada without the help of insurance covers.  This makes the cost of seeking health care costly and inaccessible to some of the citizens, especially the aging population and those who earn less or little on society.  From this, the population tends to rely on non-insured services outside the setting of the hospital.  These services, such as massage, dental care, physical therapy, and chiropractic services, are provided by the non- physicians.  This has to make outpatient services more costly as the patients (the citizens) pay out from their pocket for the drug prescription and other services.  This makes the cost of seeking health care high and inaccessible to some of the citizens.

According to the statistic provided by  lesney et al…….,  one out of ten people in Canada faces the CRNA problem relating to the inability to acquire the needed drugs due to its cost (drugs prescription).  The people who are faced with this issue are those experiencing chronic diseases and poor health such as heart attacks, and those citizens with less income and lacks drug insurance.  It is important to note that due to increased costs on drug prescriptions, a massive shift outside the hospital setting has been felt, and this may increase the financial burden to the patients in the coming years.  According to the survey conducted comparing Canada and the United Kingdom, the Canadian population experiences CRNA 2.74 times than the United Kingdom.

According to Thomas (2016), the system of healthcare in Canada needs some enhancement.  In most cases, the healthcare system is usually considered as a single-payer in Canada as the provincial government is left with the task of providing health care at affordable rates.  However, it is mostly argued that the system (healthcare) is a multi-payer where several parties contribute to healthcare.  In this case, the parties include the compensation of both the territorial government and the citizens.  It is noted that most of the Canadian citizens have been forced to acquire private insurance covers on dental care and pharmaceutical, mostly paid by the employers.  According to Weil (2016) and Angel (2008), private insurance cover is not an effective method that can be used to protect the citizens against the cost of health care.

Soril, L. J., Adams, T., Phipps-Taylor, M., Winblad, U., & Clement, F. M. (2017). Is Canadian healthcare affordable? A comparative analysis of the Canadian healthcare system from 2004 to 2014. Healthcare Policy, 13(1), 43.

Weil, T. P. (2016). The Canadian healthcare system: It needs enhancement. Health Services Management Research, 29(4), 107-114.

Angell, M. (2008). Privatizing health care is not the answer: lessons from the United States. Cmaj, 179(9), 916-919.

Wodchis, W. P., Austin, P. C., & Henry, D. A. (2016). A 3-year study of high-cost users of health care. Cmaj, 188(3), 182-188.

Section b

Healthcare in Canada has been boasted to be one of the accomplished and best healthcare systems in the globe.  It is considered to be accessible and cheap.  From this, it is clear that the government of Canada has tried to keep the healthcare system at par compared to other states around the globe as the country can actually take good care of their citizens.  Regardless of this, a forward working nation to maintain its healthcare system must face some few setbacks, including Canada.  One of the problems which have derailed the system of healthcare in Canada is the cost associated with medical services not covered in public insurance cover.  Even though Canada is the leading country in providing universal and national medical covers, It falls shorts in other services such as drugs plan.  This shows that the system has fallen short as it covers only some of the medical services leaving the rest to be handled by the local citizen.  This has led to an increase in medical costs unexpectedly.  Although consultation fee is covered in the medical programs, most of the people in Canada pay for the prescription of drugs directly from their pockets as they lack drugs include or instead use private insurance covers ( if provided by the employer).  Most of the people prefer private insurance covers which are mostly offered by employers.  It is clear that out of five people in Canada, one experiences inadequate insurance to gap their needs or may lack this coverage.  This shows that most of the people receive insufficient health care system due to lack of insurance covers and due to costly medical services.  It is indicated that most of the households who pay for the coverage or the medical covers still go to their pocket and pay approximately 1000 CAD in a year to pay for other services not included in the covers such as drugs prescription and the premiums.  It is important to note that despite these services offered and control by the provisional government in Canada, the cost of the public drugs provided various across the territories.  This means that one can pay more when acquiring medications in a certain province compared to another province.  This shows that the system of healthcare has to fail significantly as prices tend to vary, and in the end, raising the cost of medical services.

High costs of medical services caused by a lack of drug covers have led to other effects, such as an increase in premature death.  According to the statistic provided by the nurse union in Canada (CFNO), the problem of financial constraints on drugs prescription causes about one hundred premature deaths annually for citizens between the ages of fifty-five years to approximately sixty-four years.  The union also indicates that among the ten citizens, one experiences the difficulty in acquiring drugs prescriptions due to its cost.  This means that over 3.5 million citizens in Canada cannot purchase medicine.  This has forced most of the citizens to skip the dosage according to the doctors’ prescription or even forge filling the prescription, especially the citizens experiencing medical health problems.

Over the years, the issue of pharmacare has always been faced with hot debates.  Due to this, other politicians such as Justine Trudeau use this issue of pharmacare as a reelection strategy.  However, after the reelection, the plan remained a mystery.  This system has faced a lot of struggle, which some of the parties advocate for the single-payer system while some still stick to the multiplayer system.  Political influence is one of the issues that face this system.   Drugs prescription plays a significant role in health care.  It is indicated that about half of the adult citizens in Canada use prescribed drugs regularly.  Besides, about two-thirds of the citizens in Canada between the age of sixty-five years and above are mandated to use five or more drugs in a single day.  This makes drugs prescription to be the second leading cost after hospitals in the health system in Canada.  Provinces have dramatic plans which differ when it comes to medical covers.  For instance, some of the provisional government have developed a system in which it provides prescriptions to specific groups such as the senior people in the society, low-income earners, and the children.  This sounds like a breathtaking, however, the citizens who are considered to be working age are being left out in this case.  This population (working age) most the adults are being forced to pay for the drugs prescriptions from the pockets or use the private programs, which are mostly funded by the employers.  This makes it difficult for this population as some of the economies in these regions do not provide gig jobs.  Also, it is difficult for all populations as this drug prescription covers only the “catastrophic drugs.” At the same time, some of the regions do not provide such covers to these units (seniors and children).

Blidook, K. (2008). Media, public opinion, and health care in Canada: how the media affect “the way things are.” Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, 41(2), 355-374.

Rachul, C., & Caulfield, T. (2015). The media and access issues: content analysis of Canadian newspaper coverage of health policy decisions. Orphanet journal of rare diseases, 10(1), 102.

Collins, P. A., Abelson, J., Pyman, H., & Lavis, J. N. (2006). Are we expecting too much from print media? An analysis of newspaper coverage of the 2002 Canadian healthcare reform debate. Social Science & Medicine, 63(1), 89-102.

Conaprison

According to Orphanet and Rare (2015), media is one of the sectors which are very influential when it comes to health care and policy-making.  The media in Canada shows that news mostly puts pressure on particular issues concerning the debates about health care.  The Canadian media mainly concentrate and cover the questions concerning health, such as technologies used and interview therapists conserving the rare diseases and the necessary plans.  In most coverage, the media tend to sympathize with the patients increasing the debate concerning healthcare systems in the country.  According to the research conducted by Orphanet and Rare (2015), it is clear that most of the articles provided by the media were sympathetic leaning towards the patients.  From this, most of the articles largely emphasized easy accessibility to medical services and increased health care funding.  Also, the issue of drugs was raised by many.  Most of these articles discussed the reason why the system of healthcare in Canada needs enhancement and changes.  It is clear that the patient agenda is always put forward by most of the media because of the sympathy they fell for them (patients).  From these media articles, the main agenda most of the patient focuses on is accessibility to medical services and cost-effective drugs and together with services.   However, despite its impact in the community, media has affected the environment and the process of policymaking as it sympathizes with patients.

Through this, the media act as a medium, voice, and/or channel where most of the patients and the citizens can air their view to the concern organization.  In this case, it is the provisional government.  For this, the provisional government and the federal government become the target audience for the media as they (the media) channels through the issues which face the citizens.

For instance, in the year 1984, Tommy Douglas, mostly known as the Canadian father for medical, encourages the citizens to fight for universal health care coverage.  Since then, the citizens have tried to channel their issues concerning items into being covered by the system.  With this, media is one of the channels which has played a significant role in public dialogue.  Media increases the interest of the public in utilizing a specific service in healthcare as well as health policy problems.  Besides, there are some cases where the role of the media has been felt in the process of policymaking and funding decisions.

Most of the Canadian media shift focus on specific issues that affect the system of healthcare, such as user fees, waiting time, and the doctors’ shortage.   However, the media recently have increased its reporting as it covers issues that relate to the availability of technology and therapies.  For instance, the media have continued to cover the debate concerning the cancer medications, which is costly, demonstrating the economic challenges faced by the Canadians as well as the regional inequality in terms of medical costs, which has been termed as the “postal code lottery” by the media.

Conclusion

In general, the system of health care in Canada is considered to be one of the best in the world; however, this system also faces other problems, including its accessibility to medical services and the cost.  It is clear that some of the services provided in public hospitals are not covered, and it forces the citizens to pays for the services directly from their pockets.  This raises the cost of medical services.  This has made it difficult for some of the citizens to acquire medical services due to its expenses, especially the senior people in the community and the low-income earners.  However, media has played a significant role in channeling the views of the citizens to the authorities concern.  Despite this, the media has also distracted the policy-making process because of the sympathy they feel to the patients.