A quick description of American and Canadian Healthcare similarities and differences. I was born in Canada and raised in the US, so it was really interesting to me to know the differences between the two and compare to what I remember prior to becoming a US citizen.

1. Compare and Contrast
United States Vs. America
Sarah Heaton
November 18, 2013
Health 2010

2. Country By the Numbers…
United States
Population:
313.9 Million People
Population Density: 29.77pp sq. km
Physicians :
2.3 per 1000people
Obesity:
30% ( 10% more than Canada)
Teen Birth Rate:
64 per 1000 girls ( 15-19)
Heart Disease:
106.5 per 100,000 pp.
Happiness Level: > Quite Happy 55%
> Very Happy 32%
Life Expectancy:
78 years
Canada
Population:
34.88 Million People
Population Density:3.55 Per sq. km
Physicians:
2.1 per 1000 people
Obesity:
14.3%
Teen Birth Rate:
27 per 1000 girls (15-19)
Heart Disease:
94.9 per 100,000 pp.
Happiness Level: > Quite Happy 53%
> Very Happy 39%
Life Expectancy:
81 years

3. Primary Care Concerns
United States
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Average Wait time 39 days for PCP(2013) and
50 Days for Internal Medicine Dr.
Sky rocketing Medical Bills have led to 2/3 of the
Bankruptcies in the US.
Payment disputes between insurers and providers have left families
With mounting medical bills
Routine denial of needed medical treatment
pervades the profit-focused private insurance system in the US
Canada
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Average Wait time 8.6 weeks for General Practitioner
and 9.3 weeks for a Specialist
Private clinics are not legally allowed to provide services covered
by the Canada Health Act. However, services are still offered to
Lower wait times.
Whereas, the government pays for basic health care coverage;
many services that are not covered, causing Canadian Citizens
also feel financial burdens.
5% of families needed to sell their homes or refinance, turn to
Loved ones or borrow on credit cards
Although for different reasons: both Countries feel the impact of financial burden due to medical costs; as well as, it’s
Citizens feel the impact of long wait times for health care affecting their quality of life.

4. Canada = Long Waits vs. United States = High Medical Costs
How do you perceive it?
Canadian Healthcare is free –no cost for most basic procedures and treatment. Some basic needs
do have longer wait times, but most life threatening procedures are done quickly and done by specialists,
57% of the citizens are satisfied with the availability of affordable healthcare,
including 16% who are very satisfied.
American Healthcare can be pricy and expensive depending
on if you are lucky enough to have Employer based insurance benefits,
or Private Health Care Benefits; Co-payments, co-insurance and
deductibles after insurance pays can cause many economical concerns
for families; however, access
and availability to health care maybe much more obtainable.
However, only 25% of citizens are satisfied with the
availability of healthcare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lZTs7v-P6U

5. Single Payer and Multi Payer Systems
Canadian Health Care is funded on a federal and provincial levels,
it is a major component of the economy:
• Via taxation from personal and corporate income taxes; other financial resources
like lottery and sales tax
• Health care expenditures in Canada topped $100 billion in 2001
• Individually, Canadians spend about $3300 per capita on health care.
• Approximately 9.5% of Canada's gross domestic product is spent on health care.
American Health Care is funded on a public and private level;
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the private sector dominates over the other.
The U.S. spent $1.7 trillion on health care expenditures in 2003.
In 2002, government expenditures accounted for 44.9% of healthcare costs in the US.
Individually, Americans spend about $8,402 per capita on health care.
In comparison, the United States spends close to 14% of its GDP on health care.

6. Preventive Health Care Views
• Canada:
The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research estimates that 25% of the health of the population is
attributable to the health care system alone;
The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research also feels that public health; preventive health, and health and
wellness promotion are critical to enhancing their citizens health and saving government money and that the
Government should be the main source of leadership in this drive.
• United States:
Current priorities in the US favor heroic medicine, over preventive care that can result in cost savings for
insurance and quality life for our citizens. The US invests money and efforts into sophisticated medicine to fix
current problems, but not to solve the root of the issue.

7. Work Cited
• http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/2
6/us-private-insurance-healthcare-system-failure
• http://www.massmed.org/News-and-Publications/MMS-NewsReleases/MMS-Study-Shows-Patient-Wait-Times-for-Primary-CareStill-Long/
• http://www.canadian-healthcare.org/page6.html
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3263997/