With the implementation major health care reform Obamacare in recent years in the United States, health care has been in the news lately. Many look to Canada’s health care system and create comparisons. Is one health care system better than the other? Is universal coverage really beneficial?
In the United States, the care you receive depends on the type of coverage with which you are insured. Many argue that the American system is more beneficial because the wait times to see a specialist, for example, are incredibly short compared to those needing to see a specialist in Canada. Patients have to wait weeks, even months, to see a specialist in Canada. I once waited three months to see a gastroenterologist. This is the primary benefit of having health insurance in America. However, the disadvantages to the American health care system outweigh the time-reducing benefit. Although Obamacare expanded coverage, offering more subsidized insurance, there are still citizens who cannot afford any type of coverage offered by the government or their employer. Obamacare expanded Medicaid, offering it to those who could not necessarily afford insurance to cover health costs. However, the Supreme Court rejected the notion to force all states to implement the expanded Medicaid, which meant that states were now given the choice of rejecting The Medicaid expansion. Twenty states have so far declined the expansion, leaving 3.1 million residents in a Medicaid gap. This means that millions of people do not make enough money to receive government assistance, but make too much to receive Medicaid. This leaves many American citizens, who can only afford minimal or no insurance, having to shell out hundreds to thousands of dollars to treat life-threatening illness. Americans not covered by insurance are left with hefty hospital bills that they cannot cover, which, in some instances, have forced them to mortgage their houses. Some are plagued with health-care-driven bankruptcies. All in the name of receiving quick service.
In Canada, every legal resident is universally covered through a publicly financed provincial or territorial plan. From birth, you are covered with health care. Coverage stays with you your entire life and is not dependent on your income. You are not burdened with a complex, complicated, and expensive hospital bill. In turn, Canada performs higher in life expectancies as well as lower infant mortality rates compared to the United States.
When I feel that I should go to the hospital for whatever reason, I never hesitate. I never have to worry about what it will cost me and if I should risk going or not. Access to health care should not be competitive. Although the downfall is having to wait months to see specialists, emergency instances are still treated as such in Canada. Our country puts people before profit. I want to be asked “What is wrong?” first instead of being asked “Do you have insurance coverage?” first. This is an incredible privilege that I have as a Canadian citizen, and it is why I am proud to be a citizen here.
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