The Canadian healthcare system makes use of the Medicare based systems that are provincially based, this is because they make the administration of the healthcare easy and cost efficient. In each of the provincial hospitals, the medical doctors have the responsibility for handling the insurance claims against the medical insurance companies. This implies that the patient is not directly involved in the billing and the process of reclaiming; rather it is the responsibilities of the doctors (Krauss, 2010). The Canadian hospital care system comprises of a mix of both private and public hospitals. The healthcare institutions, whether private or public has the mandate to report to the provincial administrations. Hospitals in Canada are majorly non-profit institutions, with most of them being linked to religious organizations and while a significant number being linked to charitable organizations. An overview of the Canadian healthcare system depicts that it is a public system due to that most of the hospitals in Canada are publicly funded (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2011).
Medications that are considered to be of pharmaceutical nature are catered for by the public funds for the elderly. Canadians who are employed can cater for pharmaceutical medication by using employment based private insurance. An important aspect of the Canadian healthcare system is that the Government is in charge of controlling the drug prices and distribution and most significantly, the controlling of the hospital billing. As result, the distribution of hospital care services is equitable in Canada. Individuals have the mandate to choose their family physicians (Krauss, 2010).
Canadian health care is provided and delivered via a publicly funded health care which is more often than not free at the time of use and offers most services that might be offered by other private hospitals. The Canadian government has to assure and offer its citizens the quality care health services they deserve through the federal standards that have been set. The Canadian government does not participate in the daily activities of the hospitals; neither does it collect any sort of information about the health of an individual. Such vital information remains to be private and confidential between the patient and the hospital administration (Krauss, 2010).
Most of the hospitals in Canada are cost effective. This is attributed to the fact that their administration is simple and easy to deal with. It therefore goes without say that Canadian hospital services are better off as compared to those in other countries which are highly contributed by the fact that Canada has a good governing system in place that ensures order and the law is adhered to the later (Gao, 2008).
For most of the provinces in Canada, the billing for ambulance services in through a policy that requires residents to pay for an ambulance co-payment charge, which is usually approximately $ 45 for most of the provinces. Before dispatching an ambulance to an individual, requirement such as validity of residency, procession of a valid health card should be met. Physicians also have to ascertain that the ambulance transport is medically necessary for a patient to be able to use ambulance services (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2011). In cases where a patient is being transported between different hospital facilities, the ambulance service co-payment is exempted.
In terms of discharge, the Canadian hospitals are not responsible for cases of delayed discharge arrangements, therefore patients have organize how to meet their hospital costs and transportation costs when discharged. Hospitals offer transportation services but at a fee.
Funding of hospital care costs
Under the Medicare provisions, healthcare costs are only catered for if delivered in the hospitals or by known physicians. Different provinces have different Health costs per capita, with Quebec province having $4891, British Columbia having $5254 at the lower end and Alberta having $ 6072 and New Found land having $ 5970 at the higher end (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2011).
Incorporation of private hospitals in Canada Healthcare system
The private sector accounts to approximately 30 per cent of the Canadian Health care costs. This is mostly due to the services that are not provided for under the Medicare policy. Such services include prescriptions and dentistry. Despite the public funding of the Canadian Healthcare system, most of the services are delivered by the private sector. Approximately 75 per cent of the Canadian healthcare services are delivered privately (Busby, 2011). Presently, Canada is in the process of incorporating private hospitals in its healthcare system in provinces such as Quebec and British Columbia. Examples of private hospitals in Canada include CAREpath, Windsor Medical Aesthetics and Medaca Health group (Cernetig, 2006).
Reproaches of the Canadian Hospital care system
Health Canada reports that the regular waiting time in Canada for cases of seeing a special medical doctor is almost 4 weeks, with a reported 89.5 per cent waiting less than ninety days. The waiting times is one of the significant areas of criticism, the government is establishing strategies to reduce the waiting times. The restrictions concerning health care that is privately funded is another area of criticism of the Canadian health care system (Krauss, 2010).
References
Busby, S. (2011). American vs Canadian Healthcare. Web.
Cernetig, M. (2006). B.C. gov’t gets tough with private clinic. Vancouver Sun, 12.
Gao, S. (2008). Access to health care among status Aboriginal people with chronic kidney disease. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 10(3), 67.
Krauss, C. (2010). Canada’s Private Clinics Surge as Public System Falters. The New York Times, 10.
National Bureau of Economic Research. (2011). Comparing the U.S. and Canadian Health Care Systems. Web.