Global InformationComparison of the healthcare systems in Canada and the United States information
 | This article needs to be updated. (June 2023) |
| Part of a series on |
| Healthcare in Canada |
|---|
 |
| Health Canada |
|
| History of medicine |
|
| Topics |
|
| Canada portal |
| Healthcare cost per person. US dollars PPP.[1] | |
|---|---|
| Canada | $6,319 (2022) |
| USA | $12,555 (2022) |
| Life expectancy. 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Canada | 82.6 years |
| USA | 76.3 years |
| Maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births | |
|---|---|
| Canada | 11 (2020) |
| USA | 33 (2021)[2] |
| Under-5 mortality rate per 1000 live births. 2020 | |
|---|---|
| Canada | 5.0 |
| USA | 6.3 |
A comparison of the healthcare systems in Canada and the United States is often made by government, public health and public policy analysts.[3][4][5][6][7] The two countries had similar healthcare systems before Canada changed its system in the 1960s and 1970s. The United States spends much more money on healthcare than Canada, on both a per-capita basis and as a percentage of GDP.[8] In 2006, per-capita spending for health care in Canada was US$3,678; in the U.S., US$6,714. The U.S. spent 15.3% of GDP on healthcare in that year; Canada spent 10.0%.[8] In 2006, 70% of healthcare spending in Canada was financed by government, versus 46% in the United States. Total government spending per capita in the U.S. on healthcare was 23% higher than Canadian government spending. U.S. government expenditure on healthcare was just under 83% of total Canadian spending (public and private).[9]
Studies have come to different conclusions about the result of this disparity in spending. A 2007 review of all studies comparing health outcomes in Canada and the US in a Canadian peer-reviewed medical journal found that "health outcomes may be superior in patients cared for in Canada versus the United States, but differences are not consistent."[10] Some of the noted differences were a higher life expectancy in Canada, as well as a lower infant mortality rate than the United States.
One commonly cited comparison, the 2000 World Health Organization's ratings of "overall health service performance", which used a "composite measure of achievement in the level of health, the distribution of health, the level of responsiveness and fairness of financial contribution", ranked Canada 30th and the US 37th among 191 member nations. This study rated the US "responsiveness", or quality of service for individuals receiving treatment, as 1st, compared with 7th for Canada. However, the average life expectancy for Canadians was 80.34 years compared with 78.6 years for residents of the US.[11]
The WHO's study methods were criticized by some analyses. While life-expectancy and infant mortality are commonly used in comparing nationwide health care, they are in fact affected by many factors other than the quality of a nation's health care system, including individual behavior and population makeup.[12] A 2007 report by the Congressional Research Service carefully summarizes some recent data and noted the "difficult research issues" facing international comparisons.[13]
- ^ a b c OECD Data. Health resources - Health spending. doi:10.1787/8643de7e-en. 2 bar charts: For both: From bottom menus: Countries menu > choose OECD. Check box for "latest data available". Perspectives menu > Check box to "compare variables". Then check the boxes for government/compulsory, voluntary, and total. Click top tab for chart (bar chart). For GDP chart choose "% of GDP" from bottom menu. For per capita chart choose "US dollars/per capita". Click fullscreen button above chart. Click "print screen" key. Click top tab for table, to see data.
- ^ Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2021. From Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- ^ Szick S, Angus DE, Nichol G, Harrison MB, Page J, Moher D. "Health Care Delivery in Canada and the United States: Are There Relevant Differences in Health Care Outcomes?" Archived August 31, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Toronto: Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, June 1999. (Publication no. 99-04-TR.)
- ^ Esmail N, Walker M. "How good is Canadian Healthcare?: 2005 Report." Archived June 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Fraser Institute July 2005, Vancouver BC.
- ^ Nair C, Karim R, Nyers C (1992). "Health care and health status. A Canada—United States statistical comparison". Health Reports. 4 (2): 175–83. PMID 1421020.
- ^ "Canadian health care quality comparable to other rich countries". Archived December 25, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Kinch T. "Tyler Kinch: Constructing Canada: The 2007-2010 United States health care reform debate and the construction of knowledge about Canada’s single payer health care system" Archived October 23, 2016, at the Wayback Machine April 2012.
- ^ a b "OECD Health Data 2008: How Does Canada Compare" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 28, 2013. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- ^ World Health Organization, Core Health Indicators Archived April 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. U.S. government spending was US$2724 vs. US$2214 on a purchasing power parity basis ($2724 and $2121 on a non-adjusted basis); total U.S. spending was US$6096 vs. US$3137 (PPP) ($6096 and $3038 on a non-adjusted basis).
- ^ Guyatt G.H.; et al. (2007). "A systematic review of studies comparing health outcomes in Canada and the United States". Open Medicine. 1 (1): e27-36. PMC 2801918. PMID 20101287. Archived from the original on July 5, 2007.
- ^ "Health system attainment and performance in all Member States, ranked by eight measures, estimates for 1997" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- ^ O'Neill, June E.; O'Neill, Dave M. (2008). "Health Status, Health Care and Inequality: Canada vs. the U.S." (PDF). Forum for Health Economics & Policy. 10 (1). doi:10.2202/1558-9544.1094. S2CID 73172486. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 22, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
- ^ Congressional Research Service, "U.S. Health Care Spending: Comparison with Other OECD Countries" Archived January 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, September 17, 2007. Order Code RL34175