Socialized Medicine In Canadas Healthcare System

Socialized Medicine In Canadas Healthcare System

Socialized Medicine In Canadas Healthcare System nursing essay

Canadas healthcare system has been the envy of many western industrialized countries for years. Englands Prime Minister Winston Churchill inspired it in 1948 when he said: The discoveries of healing science must be the inheritance of all [] Disease must be attacked whether it occurs in the poorest or the richest man or woman, simply on the ground that it is the enemy [] Our policy is to create a national health service in order to secure that everybody in the country, irrespective of means, age, sex, or occupation, shall have equal opportunities to benefit from the best and most up-to-date medical and allied services available (Wollstein 23). Completed in 1970, this socialized health plan provides free public healthcare. Every Canadian receives free doctors visits, free hospital care, free surgery, and free medicine while in the hospital. So well known and regarded, Canadas healthcare system has long been looked to as a shining example of what socialized medicine could be and even won an international award for excellence in 1993. Even though Canadas Healthcare plan has had such a positive history it is now plagued with problems. Some of these problems include lack of doctors, lack of beds and supplies, and very long waiting periods for medical attention.

WRITE THIS ESSAY FOR ME

Tell us about your assignment and we will find the best writer for your paper.

Get Help Now!

Because of these problems arising in Canadas healthcare there has been quite a debate going on in Canada over socialized medicine. Many people argue that these problems are due to the fallacies of socialized medicine claiming, Socialized medicine, like all other forms of socialism, is a world-wide failure. As people throughout the world from the Soviet Union to South America are learning, socialism cannot work. Socialized medicine results in skyrocketing demand for nominally free health care, doctors being over-burdened, medical services steadily deteriorating, and endless waiting periods for health services(Wollstein 24). Others, who are for socialized medicine in Canada feel the problem is not with the system but with the people themselves. They argue that people are exploiting the system and, not taking enough responsibility for themselves(Pierson 26).

In any case both sides agree that the main cause of these problems is lack of money, but instead of arguing how they intend to secure more money for healthcare, they argue whether socialized medicine is good or not. This question of good and bad is a philosophical issue best discussed over time. Instead both of these sides should be joining together to fight for funds. Funds that their government owes them. In 1970 at the dawn of Canadas healthcare the federal government promised to provide 50% of all healthcare costs in Canada. The other 50% was supposed to be provided by local provinces. Since then the government has yet to pay 50% of healthcare costs and, to add insult to injury, has steadily decreased the amount of funding they once promised. From 1970 to 1983 the Canadian government paid only 37% of all health care costs leaving the local provinces to pay the other 63%. At this rate local provinces could fit the bill but in 1984, when the Canadian government amended the National Health Care Act, they cut their funding of health care costs down to a mere 29%. Then in 1990 after another budget cut the Canadian government paid only 25%.

Since then there has been so many cuts in healthcare funding that ever since 1990 the Canadian government, with a population of 21 million, has spent less on healthcare than Washington D.C. who has a population of only 4 million (Frampton). With ever increasing demand and cost for healthcare, local provinces, which now must pay over 75% of all healthcare services for their citizens, are forced to make cuts. Since service is one major cost for medical care many local provinces choose to cap doctors salaries. These caps range from each province but the average ceiling for doctors is 150,000(CD) for general practitioners and 175,000(CD) for specialists. These caps, besides making most doctors unhappy, has had some negative effects.

The first and most noticeable effect is Canadian doctors leaving Canada for the United States. Dr. Warren Molberg, an emer……………………

ORDER A SIMILAR PAPER WRITTEN FROM SCRATCH AND TO YOUR EXACT SPECIFICATIONS