The Different Pros And Cons Of Canadian Health Insurance
In an ideal world, all countries would have universal health care available to their citizens. However, we do not live in a perfect world, so only some countries have this option for citizens to access medical assistance. Canada is one of these countries, and while the free health care sounds perfect, it is not anywhere close. This does not mean that Canadian health insurance is entirely disadvantageous as it does have several benefits. This article will provide different pros and cons of Canadian health insurance programs.
What Are The Different Benefits To Canadian Health Insurance?
1. Availability For All
The first benefit of using Canadian health insurance is that the policy is implemented on a universal level. This means that it does not matter what type of financial status the citizen has, what the person’s age is, what their health status is, or what their employment status is – all people can use the policy. The universal availability is a good reason to use the program. Regardless of the number of flaws in legislation or the policy, Canadian health insurance will always be popular because of its universal availability.
2. Special Care For Special Needs
Canadian health insurance programs take into account the health of different citizens, particularly the needs of disabled individuals, the elderly, and children. Veterans and senior citizens receive special attention, as well as children and disabled individuals. According to insurance policies, people with specific disabilities will also receive special attention because of their challenges. Universal healthcare programs attempt to help citizens as much as possible, such as implementing a special program for war veterans who can obtain whatever type of care they need.
3. Educational Programs
While provincial and federal governments in Canada promote the universal health care program, there are also educational programs running from time to time. The use of these educational programs is to increase awareness among the average individual so that injuries can be avoided, health conditions can be proactively examined, and people can learn how to behave at specific times dependent on their health condition. This type of program is typically funded by the Canadian government and will go a long way toward educating individuals from different backgrounds.
The educational programs are essential for the country as they can assist people in adopting healthy lifestyle habits, as well as making them aware of the incorrect choices. Without any universal healthcare systems, the programs will not be funded and may be considered irrelevant. While people can become more aware of health conditions, the awareness also reduces the burden on the universal healthcare system.
What Are The Different Disadvantages To Canadian Health Insurance?
1. The Fees Tend To Be Unrealistic
Healthcare practitioners or providers are mandated by law to charge a specific fee for specific treatments and medical assistance. In many cases, this fee is not a realistic one, and many people have problems paying it. The healthcare providers need to run a business, and many use loans to set up the facility with infrastructure. Moreover, doctors often have student loans and will need to attend to these loans as well as their cost of living. Unless their fees are reasonable, and they can ensure providers can continue operating with a suitable lifestyle, the Canadian health insurance program is flawed.
Welfare schemes across the globe tend to be unfair. Doles to a particular section or the majority of people should not be at the cost of other citizens’ basic needs or comfort. The majority of welfare programs burden the taxpayer, and then the healthcare sector is made to bear the brunt of these financial fallouts. This is one of the reasons why providers of universal health care do not offer the best service to their patients.
2. The Long Waiting Times
Reports show that Canada has one of the best healthcare systems across the globe with a mass of medical facilities, practitioners, and medical resources; however, there is another scenario regarding doctors, their patients, and the patients’ needs. Due to the universal accessibility of the health care system, it makes sense that more people will always require attention and this contributes to waiting times.
While emergency situations are ones dealt with immediately, such as treating severe injuries that are life-threatening. Unfortunately, emergency medical assistance will influence the non-emergency healthcare patients and longer wait times can be experienced. It is possible that people will wait for several months to gain the necessary medical attention for their problem. Whenever there are emergency cases, the emergency situation will receive priority and that shifts the other cases one spot lower. The delay is unavoidable, and some people may have the cases continuously delayed for years.
The increased waiting times can be highly frustrating for the non-emergency patient, and it can result in making the non-emergency situation a life-threatening based on negligence. While there is room for improvement in this area, policymakers in the Canadian healthcare system are not reviewing the issue. Moreover, the management of the waiting period is not efficient, and cases can be misplaced.
3. Accessibility Of Service In Rural Areas
Healthcare systems are almost non-existent in rural areas. Funding of Canadian health insurance programs is done primarily on location and the area demographics. This means that more populated areas will receive more funding, while the rural or sparsely populated areas do not gain priority. The scarcity of funds reduces the growth of health care programs in rural regions; therefore, forcing people from rural areas to travel to larger areas of healthcare. This can be detrimental for the individual and can be damaging to their health if the person has a severe health condition.
4. The Quality Of Care
Rural healthcare providers are not only short on funding, but they do not have suitable resources to meet the population’s healthcare needs either. This means that the quality of care in the health care system will be insufficient and ineffective. Urban healthcare facilities are well-financed and scrutinized, so they provide excellent services; however, this is not the case with rural facilities. Preventing the rural population from gaining their share of the funding influences their ability to provide high-quality care.
Final Words
As can be seen, there are various pros and cons to the Canadian healthcare system. To determine if Canadian health insurance programs are suitable for you, you should take the different points about into consideration.