Are Healthcare Costs Really Lower in Canada?

A report by the Fraser Institute reveals that healthcare in Canada only appears to cost less than healthcare in the United States because Canadian public health insurance does not cover many advanced medical treatments and technologies; common medical resources are in short supply; and access to healthcare is often severely delayed.

On average, Americans spend more of their incomes on healthcare, but they get better access to superior medical resources.

According to the most recent data, the United States outscores Canada on many key indicators of available healthcare resources, including:

• Number of MRI units per million population in 2006: US 26.5. Canada: 6.2
• Number of MRI exams per million population in 2004/05: U.S.: 83,200. Canada: 25,500
• Number of CT Scanners per million population in 2006: U.S.: 33.9. Canada 12
• Number of CT exams per million population in 2004/05: U.S.: 172,500. Canada 87,300
• Number of inpatient surgical procedures per million population in 2004: U.S.: 89,900. Canada: 44,700.

Even on health insurance coverage, the Canadian system does not perform much better than the U.S. when it comes to actually delivering insured access. The study cites government data showing an estimated 1.7 million Canadians (aged 12 and older) were unable to see a regular family physician in 2007. And it points to other research showing that the actual number of effectively uninsured Americans is less than half of the figure usually reported and that being uninsured is usually only a temporary condition.

Based on these figures, the study estimates that the percentage of the population that was effectively uninsured for non-emergency, necessary medical services at any given time during 2007 was not significantly different between the two countries: 7.9% in the U.S. compared to six percent in Canada.

The study concludes that both Canada and the U.S. should look to countries, such as Switzerland or the Netherlands where the government is not in the business of providing health or drug insurance at all. Instead, people are required by law to purchase comprehensive health insurance in a regulated private-sector market. Access to health insurance for low-income people comes from a publicly funded means-tested subsidy, which varies according to the income and assets of the insured person. For more information, visit http://www.fraserinstitute.org/.