An economic analysis of health care services in Canada
Canada has always strived to ensure that its healthcare services are enhanced for the benefit of the larger population. This means that it has paid more attention towards efficiency and effectiveness for long term sustainability.
This is based on the fact that the country is entering a stage where questioning will be axiomatic. As far as an analysis of healthcare services in Canada is concerned, private healthcare funding has continued to play an important and vital role. This implies that there is a very big difference between delivery and funding of healthcare services in Canada.
Proper healthcare provision requires a lot of economic analysis for success and long term sustainability. Canada’s healthcare system is very complex which means that new technologies that are emerging can not be implemented without a comprehensive analysis (Page 23).
In this case, implementation can only be done after an evaluation of costs versus value. It should be known that there are simple and common procedures but they always come under scrutiny when it comes to an economic analysis of healthcare services in Canada. This is because there has been an increased need for justification of expenses as far as public and private funding is concerned.
It has been unanimously agreed that effectiveness and efficiency in the health system will ultimately alleviate some funding problems. This is because there have been funding issues as far as the public health insurance sector is concerned. It is agreeable that effective delivery is related to quality services which have been the target of various stakeholders.
A proper economic analysis revolves around good assessment through the use of different tools. Canada as a country does not have enough information that can be used to asses its healthcare services. In a broad perspective, there is scarcity of different indicators that can be used to evaluate the country’s healthcare system.
This shortage of information means that the country can not carry out the improvements that are needed to enhance its healthcare services. The effects of medical treatments have not been properly reviewed because there are cases where overall performance of the healthcare sector has been questioned in Canada (Page 40).
In this case, it implies that the effects of the healthcare system in the country have not been known to the public. A country’s healthcare system is very diverse which means that it depends on various interrelated factors. In such a case, it is very difficult to ascertain the influence of healthcare services on the general health of the population.
Canada does not have any bank information of patients who have been treated by its healthcare system as a whole. This means that as much as there are hospitals that have made a good stride on these aspects, proper information can not be guaranteed.
The efficiency of healthcare services can not be evaluated because there is no proper follow up on patients who have been treated by different hospital. This has led to an argument by various stakeholders that it is not possible to measure the cost- effectiveness of the country’s healthcare system.
There is an accounting approach that is used as far as disbursement of funds is concerned but it begs many questions. Funding of hospital operations has been enhanced as time goes by and the efficiency of resources invested should be able to contribute to good results (Gross 41).
The clinical and economic effectiveness of different drugs that are used by the healthcare system in Canada have not been properly evaluated because there is little information.
Despite the fact that there is no data, there is some information on the effectiveness of the healthcare system in different areas. All this aspects can be explained from the fact that controlling the country’s healthcare expenditure has always been a big political issue in concurrent years that have passed.
The country has different provincial governments that have done well in proper allocation of funds to healthcare. This is based on the fact they allocate around one third of their budgets to the healthcare system.
The economic situation has not been good and this means that it has tightened spending on healthcare by different provincial governments. This situation has been tightened by a freeze on transfer payments by the government.
All in all, it should be known that the country’s healthcare expenditure has reached a threshold that is difficult for political players to cross. This has therefore translated into a funding problem and crisis of Canada’s healthcare insurance sector.
Whenever we have such controversies, it becomes very difficult to take care of national healthcare principles. These are principles that every country is supposed to adhere to and follow like free access and universality of healthcare services. On this basis, different stakeholders have questioned the way public and private healthcare costs are shared in the country (Gross 66).
This is because there should be proper mechanisms that can be used to ensure that such costs are shared equally and efficiently for long term sustainability. There are services that have been considered medically necessary by the government but this should be reviewed.
Medical services that are covered by the government should always be evaluated and this is what different stakeholders have occasionally insisted on. In extreme cases, it has been proposed that user fees should be imposed for long term sustainability as time goes by.
The most notable logic should be the fact that controlling healthcare costs does not necessarily require a lot of private sector participation. As much as private sector funding is essential for proper provision of healthcare services, it should not be an excuse for inefficiencies.
In this case, the government has a role to play in ensuring that cost benefit analysis is done to take care of all aspects that relate to proper healthcare services. This therefore explains why Canada as a country has strived to ensure that its healthcare system is effective and efficient (Gross 84).
Delivery of appropriate indicators and resources should be a target of different governments as far as enhancing their healthcare system is concerned. This means that an economically effective health system will always ensure that healthcare services are guaranteed.
All this factors contribute to the general efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare system as a whole. Effective care that revolves around a good healthcare system will ultimately ensure that there is optimum use of the available financial resources. There is need for provision of universally high quality services and this is what Canada has always strived to achieve as time goes by.
Distinguishing healthcare services from other goods and services
Healthcare services are different from other goods and services because of derived demand. This is what makes the provision of healthcare services different because it is demanded as a means to achieve a larger stock. In this case, it means that most consumers demand healthcare so that they can achieve a large pool of health capital.
There is a big difference because when consumers demand healthcare services, they allocate resources that will enable them to produce and consume health. Every individual person can therefore be regarded as both a producer and consumer of health.
This therefore makes it different from other goods and services because they ultimately have predetermined producers and consumers. It should occur that the same people who produce health as a good and service end up consuming it in one way or the other (Wise 43).
Health can be viewed as capital because it will ultimately degrade in the absence of any meaningful investments that are always necessary for long term sustainability. In this case, health can be viewed as a consumption good and investment good.
Taken literally, it should be known that we can invest in health in various ways and end up consuming it as we are bound to be sick. This means that the consumption of health as a good can end up yielding some utility and direct satisfaction.
Satisfaction to consumers of healthcare services can be indirectly achieved by increasing and enhancing productivity which can not be seen in other goods and services. This means that any increased productivity will be characterized by few sick days from a consumer point of view.
All in all, the provision of healthcare services is different from other goods and services that are examined in economics because of two perspectives and approaches that are supposed to be evaluated. Investments in healthcare services can end up being costly because consumers should be able to trade on time and different resources that are always devoted to health.
As much as consumers might have other goals to achieve and accomplish, they are supposed to forego this for health which has not been seen in any other good or service that is just consumed (Fuchs 78). For instance, health consumers are supposed to exercise every now and then at the gym even if that was not their initial priority.
In this case, it should be known that these are factors that can be used to determine the optimal level of health that is always demanded by different consumers. Healthcare provision is different from other goods and services that are explored in economics because, as a product, it is ill-defined.
There are different, diverse and distinct stakeholders that are involved in health as a product which makes its provision unique and different. Its provision is complex because the outcome of care is always uncertain. This is because you can not be able to predict the outcome of consuming healthcare unlike other goods and services where utility can be evaluated.
When compared to other goods and services, the healthcare sector is dominated by a lot of non-profit providers which means that they might not pay attention to other economic aspects. Most payments in the healthcare sector are made by third parties that can be either private insurers or government institutions.
As much as these factors can be found in other industries, they are all present in the healthcare sector. This means that the healthcare sector and industry has been made unique by an interaction of all these factors. All this withstanding, various stakeholders and players in the industry respond to incentives like consumers in other industries (Wise 96).
The healthcare industry is always regulated because of its sensitivity on people’s lives. This means that healthcare as a product is important which therefore requires proper safety, effectiveness and efficiency for different consumers.
Governments should know that healthcare is different from other goods because an individual might be unable to afford a car but should it occur that he is unable to access healthcare, he or she will die.
Comparison with international health care systems
When compared with other healthcare systems, the Canadian system does not have many problems but others have been rather exaggerated. All this withstanding, the Canadian system has been characterized by many waiting hours that have made people to cross over to the United States for treatment.
People wait for long months for diagnostic tests to be done and this is an issue that the country’s industry players need to look at. As much as this is a fact, there are people who have crossed over to be treated in the country which implies that these inefficiencies might be scanted.
In this case, it should be known that as much as different stakeholders might argue that the country’s problems are inevitable; this is ignoring good results that have been seen in other neighboring countries. There are countries that have had successful systems than Canada most notably France and Sweden but they thrive by imitating a free market.
This is where policy analysts and opinion leaders have differed in Canada because there is an argument that if a free market delivers results, then it should provide healthcare directly like it does for cars and other products (Kraus 73). Canada has been reforming its healthcare system as time goes by to match international standards based on emerging technologies.
70% of the country’s healthcare spending is always financed by the government which is not a good development because private players should be actively engaged and involved (Kraus 58). Disparities in spending when compared with other good health care systems around the world has always led to heated debates among politicians which affects efficiency of the system as a whole.
Health outcomes are superior in Canada among patients when compared with other developed countries like the US and this is a good development. Life expectancy is longer in Canada and this means that there should be some underlying factors behind this aspect in relation to its healthcare system.
Canada has been ranked well when it comes to good achievements in the level of health but there is need for improvement as recommended by international standards. The country is exposed to high mortality rates when it comes to heart attacks because it relies on a conservative approach to the opening of arteries.
Most end services in Canada are delivered by the private sector which is in compete contrast to the fact that 70% of funding comes from the government (Kraus 123). This implies that there are some disparities and inconsistencies as far as public and private partnerships are concerned.
Healthcare costs in Canada have been rising faster than inflation which requires some review and evaluation for long term sustainability. The country should also strive to enhance and increase doctors per capita to be in tandem with internationally recommended standards.
Works Cited
Fuchs, Victor. Who Shall Live? Health, Economics, and Social Choice. New York: Harper/Collins, 1998. Print.
Gross, David. Prescription Drug Prices in Canada: What Are the Lessons for the U.S.? New York: Routledge, 2008. Print.
Kraus, Clifford. As Canada’s Slow-Motion Public Health System Falters, Private Medical Care Is Surging. New York: New York Times, 2006. Print.
Page, Moher. Health Care Delivery in Canada and the United States: Are There Relevant Differences in Health Care Outcomes? Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1999. Print.
Wise, David. Developments in the Economics of Aging. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009. Print.