Cost Of Health

Now that we know the basics of the services available we can move on to how these services are paid for once rendered. For the U.S., the financing breakdown consists of “health care expenditures were paid by households 28%, private businesses 21%, state and local governments 16%, and federal government 27%.” ("HealthPAC » Health Care Statistics in the United States," n.d.) Americans spend more money on health care than any other of the industrialized countries, and the cost of health care continues to rise. The reasons for the rise in medical cost in the U.S. are due to the inflation of medical services, the aging population and the continual change in the medical field itself. Canada on the other hand “spends far less of its GDP on health …show more content…
Is one country more advanced technologically than the other when it comes to making citizens aware and keeping them up to date about health care? In some cases it has been said that the welfare of an economy has an impact on the welfare of the citizens. Empirically, countries that are less healthy are poorer than countries that are more healthy, and their incomes grow less rapidly. Thus, the income gap between more and less healthy countries is increasing over time.” (The National Center for Biotechnology Information, n.d.) The economic status of a country would also have the ability to have more technologically advanced equipment for things such as screening , diagnostics or basic advancements that can keep the population up to date on health care, news and self service medical treatment. Canada has been accused of not adapting as well as other countries to the advancements in technology. This lack of adapting can have an effect on the diagnosis and treatment of illness and disease causing serious health concerns and possibly have an impact on the outcome of patient care. The U.S. has had major breakthrough due to much of the privately funded health care programs which allows them to pour more money into product development and research. In this area of opportunity it seems that the United States may be more advanced with the most innovative and advanced equipment on the …show more content…
For a universal program this may include lapse in overages, or longer wait times for services. For a program such as the U.S. where most insurance is private the risk for abuse to the system for payment may be a factor. With private plans there is potential for unnecessary care which can contribute to the rising costs of medical coverage in general. Each plan also has the potential for revising to make them better and avoid some issues such as these. In the U.S not only is there an issue of having unnecessary treatments there is also an opportunity for improvement for current care. Some of the government provided care facilities could stand to improve their overall quality of care they are providing. Also in the U.S. there is an abundant amount of people who are uninsured so finding a way to reduce this burden of increased heath care costs for those who are insured. In general there are causes and effects to everything, if the U.S. decided to go the route of universal coverage like Canada there would be tax increases to compensate. If Canada decided to go the route of U.S and change to a private care system there citizens may not be able to afford family plans or even know how to go about attaining the coverage needed for their families. After reviewing the options for the two countries it seems that each have found the appropriate method that works for them and their