We want to believe that universal health care means “free”, but in order for individuals to get the medical care they warrant, the money must come from somewhere. The provincial and the federal levels (Canada Healthcare, 2004-2007, p.1) fund the health care system in Canada. The national health care expenditure can be different depending on which province or territories you are examining. The large companies, individual’s taxes, as well as sales taxes, are some of the financial sources that are used by the government to fund the healthcare system. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (2016, p), “in 1975, total Canadian health care costs consumed 7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Canada 's total health care expenditures as a percentage of GDP grew to an estimated 11.7% in 2010 (or $5,614 CDN per person). In 2010, publicly funded health expenditures accounted for seven out of every ten dollars spent on healthcare. The remaining three out of every ten dollars came from private sources and covered the costs of supplementary services such as drugs, dental care, and vision care” …show more content…
There are not many reasons to dispute the knowledge that Canada does have a Universal Health Care system for its people. Unlike the U.S., every legal resident in Canada is covered through the publicly funded provincial or territorial plan. That is, as long as you are a resident or a citizen you are automatically enrolled in the healthcare system. No such thing will happen under the ACA plan in the U.S. With the ACA, you are not automatically enrolled you are given the opportunity to have insurance but you either have to purchased it, qualified for government assistance or pay a penalty. Americans now have more affordable insurance options and subsidies to cover their costs and the lowest-income may be eligible for public coverage through the expansion of Medicaid (Obamacare vs. Canada 2012, p.). But even with this, millions will still be without health insurance. Another key difference between the U.S and Canada healthcare is the fact that Canada has a tax-financed, public, single-payer health care system (Bodenheimer & Grumbach, 2012, p.172). This means that the health care system is control or finance mostly by the Government. The U.S as mentioned earlier has a more complex system involving several organizations. Many Canadians have private insurance to supplement some basic needs, but within the U.S population about 84% of the population is covered by either public (26%) or private (70%) health insurance. Approximately 61% of health insurance coverage is employment