Health Care in Canada –
Does this Government Funded System Work?


The debate over health care in the United States has shown most people that there are other types of health care systems that exist in the world. A small portion of people already knew this many years ago, with another segment only finding out when watching documentaries on the subject. By now, though, this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that was paying attention for the better part of the past year, with some people fully supporting government funded health care system and others being perfectly happy with the system that is already in place in the US. Canada is one such system that is run entirely by the government, and while it has its problems, mainly dealing with hospitals and Canadian pharmacies, it certainly has a lot of perks that the current US system is sorely lacking.

One the best things about having the government funded system, like the one that is in place in Canada, is that everyone is covered. This is not up for negotiation, as it’s not an “if” or “but” situation, but you are fully covered by a government run health care system. A government run health care system is usually referred to a “single payer” system, as there is only a single person responsible for paying and that of course, is the government. So whether you are going in for an operation or getting Canadian medications in the hospital, these are all paid for by the government.

One of the arguments that were constantly brought up, although incorrectly, brought up during the US health care debate was that people didn’t want the government to make decisions for them regarding their health. This would not be the case though, with a single payer system, as the doctors are considered a private entity that has nothing to do with the government, outside of getting paid by them for services rendered. Another complaint which was brought up was that Canadians pay for the cost of seeing a doctor or for their Canadian medications, only instead of up-front payments, they do so in the form of additional taxes.

The Canadian health care system is certainly not without its faults however, as they usually have long waiting lists for people who need to see a doctor or have an operation done. But if you are in need of Clarinex or other medications, the system Canada has by offering cheap prices that saves you time as well, the US system could certainly use some improvement.