Health insurance is one of the key elements of any country’s health care system. Through health insurance, health care is made affordable and accessible to individuals. The United States and Canada are two countries that understand the fundamental benefits of health insurance to the public. With health care being a pivotal mandate for these two nations, health insurance continues to be an active element in their respective health systems. However, through a keen insight the two countries ‘posit distinct or varied health insurance schemes for their masses.
The United States health insurance is run through Medicaid, Medicare, and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) (Heavey, 2014). This makes health insurance scheme in America to be termed as multi-tiered due to its complex structure incorporating various sub-schemes under one. The Canadian government has a single-tiered insurance system. The Canadian government provides the insurance through its provincial authorities.
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The other distinct difference between the two systems is founded in the universal coverage of the schemes. The American system does not support a universal coverage of its residents. Statistics posit that only half of the American public has enrolled in the public health insurance scheme. In the United States, insurance is more of an individual’s mandate than the governments. The Canadian health system, on the other hand, is structured to make health insurance universal. It is structured in a simple system that ensures that all legal Canadian residents are covered in the publicly-financed territorial or provincial scheme (Heavey, 2014).
The Canadian health insurance is national facilitated by the federal government through each of its provinces and territories. The scheme is publicly funded and has comprehensive services that are extended to all Canadians no matter their location. The American health insurance or Obamacare is confined to states that are willing to expand the coverage of the Medicaid (Heavey, 2014). This was brought forth by a Supreme Court ruling regarding the federal government’s demand to the state governments on the expansion of the Medicaid insurance coverage.
Reference
Heavey, S. (2014). Comparing U.S., Canadian health care systems. Association of Healthcare Journalists . Retrieved from http://healthjournalism.org/blog/2014/01/comparing-u-s-canadian-health-care-systems/
