While the US and Canada share a lot of similarities, Canada has done a much better job than the US in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of that is due to the leadership vacuum Donald Trump’s abdication of his responsibilities has created in the federal government. Some of that is due to the structural differences between Canada’s national healthcare system, and the much more expensive (and profitable) patchwork system the US limps along with.
By Solarina Ho
TORONTO -- As countries around the world battle COVID-19 in different ways, political leaders, health officials and the public are witnessing how the pandemic is exposing major issues within their respective health-care systems.
One former U.S. insurance executive’s tweets -- which accused the insurance industry of spending “big” money to downplay the merits of the Canadian system -- have drawn attention to this issue and the disparities between the Canadian model and the U.S. one.
Potter, an advocate for health-care reform and Medicare for all, spent nearly 15 years doing corporate public relations with health insurance company Cigna Corp, but left after seeing firsthand the way the industry worked against the public’s health interests, according to his website.
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Earlier this year, a study published by the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that the U.S. health system spent four times more than Canada just in administrative costs alone.
And, according to the Canadian Institute for Health information (CIHI), Canada spent about 10.7 per cent of its GDP on health care in 2018, or $6,448 per person, while the United States spent about 16.9 percent of its GDP, or $13.722 per person.
The differences in the healthcare outcomes is even starker when you compare the two nations response to the COVUD-19 pandemic:
On a per capita basis, the U.S. is seeing about 719 positive cases for every 100,000 people compared with 271 Canadians per 100,000. The U.S. is recording nearly 37 deaths for every 100,000 people, while Canada is reporting more than 22 people dead for every 100,000.
If the Supreme Court strikes down the ACA (as Republicans hope) leaving another 20 million Americans without healthcare in the middle of a pandemic, they will compound the chances our whole healthcare system will come apart at the seams.