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Health Care

Jeff
Mr. Snyder
Eng.101
December 13, 2007
Coming from a country with Universal Health Care to a country without, I realized how important it is. There are many debates in North America about which is better, some Americans say theirs is, while some Canada’s believe otherwise. I personally think Canada’s health care is better but also realize why it might not be too late for America to switch over.
Growing up I never realized that there were some countries that you needed to pay to see your family doctor, but as I got older I realized that the “Greatest Country in the World,” America, did not have free health care and that is was becoming a real problem for them. It is comforting to know that if I get hurt I am taken to the proper hospital and treated fairly. Later, I learned that in America, the hospitals treat you depending upon your insurance coverage, which seems wrong. Universal Health Care has many upsides to it but so does Privatized Health Care. For a country as big as America is everyone getting treated equally?
The cost per person has always been a major issue in this debate but The World Health Organization says “The U.S. government spends more per capita on health care than the government does in Canada. In 2004, the government of Canada spent $2,120 (in US dollars) per person on health care, while the United States government spent $2,724.”(WHO). Just the same, a research study conducted by Dr.Gordon Guyatt notes “The United States also spends far more on health care, i.e., approximately 15% of its gross domestic product versus about 10% in Canada (1).
Both figures are out of government spending, which is paid by the people’s tax dollars but above this the American people also must pay out of their pocket for additional health insurance. Canada spent about $142 billion in health care in 2005 where as the American government spent about 2.2 trillion in 2004. Now there is a large population difference between the two countries that an...