Introduction
The healthcare systems in different countries are based on various patterns, each with its advantages and disadvantages. It is possible to distinguish countries with universal healthcare coverage and states with single-payer insurance. In this paper, the United States, with single-player coverage, is compared to Canada, which offers universal insurance to all its citizens.
The main problem is that medical coverage in the USA is challenging for many Americans due to its comparatively high cost (Montgomery, 2019). It restricts the number of people expecting to receive professional medical help in critical situations. Although all citizens are officially eligible for basic healthcare coverage in the United States, many individuals are excluded from it. From a social justice perspective, Canadian universal health insurance provides everyone with equal opportunities to receive medical care, making it more accessible to a wider range of individuals.
Comparison
A system known as single-payer health insurance covers residents’ medical expenses on behalf of one organization. In the US, Medicare is a single-payer healthcare coverage program provided by the federal government. However, it is not accessible to all citizens in the United States, and certain groups of individuals are often overlooked.
All Canadians are provided fundamental health insurance coverage from birth (Montgomery, 2019). However, they can additionally purchase supplementary private insurance. Canada invests significantly more in medical services than the United States, as private insurance constitutes only a small fraction of healthcare expenses (Montgomery, 2019).
Organizations, governments, and people split healthcare costs in the US and Canada. The US model is a multi-payer structure with significant privately sponsored public components (Montgomery, 2019). Although the Canadian system is multi-payer, it also lacks public features (Combden et al., 2022). Thus, the government covers the entire healthcare system in Canada.
Table Comparison
It is possible to illustrate the effectiveness and quality of healthcare in the United States and Canada using Table 1.
Pandemic Intervention
The effectiveness of countries in dealing with COVID-19 highlights the differences in their approaches to public healthcare. American hospitals faced significant challenges in providing medical assistance to all patients requiring help simultaneously, as the number of people in healthcare facilities was not intended to be that high (Geneviève et al., 2022). The Canadian healthcare system was also unprepared for the enormous number of patients during the pandemic (Combden et al., 2022). In reality, more people in Canada had the opportunity to receive medical assistance and supervision during this period compared to the United States, where many individuals lacked medical coverage and could not afford to purchase insurance (Geneviève et al., 2022). The different levels of access to medical care are a sign of inequalities in the country and indicate the economic and social gaps between different groups.
Conclusion
Health inequities must be closely monitored to identify and address disadvantaged social groups, providing policymakers with a solid evidence base on which to create more robust, equity-oriented policies. The aggregate numbers conceal regional disparities even in nations where access to medical services has improved. For instance, wealthier, more educated, and residing in cities have greater reproductive, maternity, child, and teenage medical insurance availability than the rural, uneducated, or unqualified immigrants and poor populations. The comparison between the USA, with its system of individual-payer insurance, and Canada, with universal coverage, reveals that more people can access medical services during pandemics or similar critical situations.
References
Central Intelligence Agency. (2020). The world factbook.
Combden, S., Forward, A., & Sarkar, A. (2022). COVID-19 pandemic responses of Canada and United States in first 6 months: A comparative analysis. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 37(1), 50–65.
Geneviève, L. D., Martani, A., Wangmo, T., & Elger, B. S. (2022). Precision public health and structural racism in the United States: Promoting health equity in the COVID-19 pandemic response. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 8(3), e33277.
Montgomery, K. (2019). Differences between universal coverage and single-payer. VeryWellHealth.