Pros And Cons Of Canada's Health Care System

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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 …show more content…

Shaw’s article relates greatly to my topic. I want to argue that the United States private insurance health care system needs to be replaced with single payer healthcare, and this article shows how Canada’s single payer system is superior to the United States”. Shaw’s explanation of how the Canadian system is better can help me to prove that the United States needs to get on with the rest of the developed world in terms of health care coverage. One of the examples that Shaw used to show that Canada’s system is better is by pointing to the fact that Canada effectively covers all of its citizens, “In the Canadian system, the number of uninsured patients is negligible because there are no private insurers to reject uninsurable patients” (Shaw 2004). This is far different from the United States where we have over thirty million Americans uninsured. In this way Canada’s system is superior to the United States which will help me to prove that the United States need’s a single payer health care system similar to Canada. Another way in which Shaw shows how Canada’s system is superior is in that the cost of health care is less burdensome on the citizens, “Canada has not yet experienced crises over high premiums like those that have occurred in several regions of the United States, resulting in doctor “walkouts.” The fact that Canada doesn’t have the issue of highly expensive premiums and doctors refusing to take surgeries is another example I can use to prove that single payer is better and the United States needs to change to a system similar to Canada’s. This article also can help me to develop a nice rebuttal to attacks on single payer health care from the right. The American right often criticizes single payer health care by citing the long wait times and even claiming some people die waiting to get the medical coverage they need. Shaw shows in his article that while wait times for same procedures may be true emergency surgeries are prioritized, “ For example, the

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