Essay On Canada Health

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Health Care in Canada – the role of federal and provincial governments
The healthcare system in Canada is funded largely by the federal government as determined by the constitution. However, the actual healthcare delivery and social services is left up to each province and territory. Each province has the power to pass legislation that governs the financing and delivery of healthcare services to Canadians residing in that province. This fact encourages all healthcare professionals who have a strong provincial association and want to advocate their position on healthcare to speak up, if they want something different. If a physician wants to start delivery of telemedicine to rural areas of the province, he or she can advocate their position and …show more content…

The Canadian healthcare system is a socialized system that offers universal coverage to all Canadians at a cost, it is not for free. It is publicly funded and administered on a provincial basis. This means that each province collects money for healthcare from taxes. On average, each Canadian pays about $6,000-$9,000 per year- which is not that much different from the American private healthcare. The federal government collects the taxes then distributes money to each province based on the needs. The major requirement of the Canada Health Act is that all provinces, which do get federal money to deliver healthcare, have transparency and accountability, be universal and portable. This means that a Canadian living in one province can move to another province and still have the same medical coverage. The type of medical services provided is left to each province. While most of the basic health care is covered, plastic surgery for cosmetic reasons and certain other rehabilitation services are not covered. It is important to know that in this system there are often very long delays to get surgery or to see …show more content…

The NHS was founded on similar principles as Canada- universal, free to a point, equitable and paid by central funding (Grosios et al, 2010). Over the years, the NHS has seen numerous organizational and political changes, but still remains universal and offers care to people who need it and are not able to pay for it. The NHS is funded by national insurance contributions and taxes. The healthcare policy and healthcare delivery is a responsibility of the central government in England, whereas in Wales, Scotland and Northern Island it is the responsibility of the local governments. In the UK, the NHS is composed of two major sections- one which deals with policy, strategy and management and other section that deals with medical care; this department is further subdivided into community care, pharmacy, dentistry and general medical practice. In Britain there are many barriers in seeking specialty care; one has to see a general practitioner first, who is a gate keeper and decides on where and who gets specialty care. It can often take years to bypass this gatekeeper because there are very few specialists in the country. In the past two decades, there has been a major shift in funding moving away from central government to local counties. The UK healthcare center is facing cutbacks in funding and complaints of long waits to see surgeons and specialists is common.

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