Comparison of Canadian and American Health Care Systems (Paperback)

Government and public health and public policy analysts often make a comparison of the Canadian and American health care systems because the two countries at one time had very similar health care systems until the Canadians began reforming their system in the 1960s and 1970s. The U.S. spends much more on health care than Canada, both on a per- capita basis and as a percentage of GDP. 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 health care in that year; Canada spent 10.0%.In 2006, 70% of health care spending in Canada was financed by government, versus 46% in the United States. Total government spending per capita in the U.S. on health care was 23% higher than Canadian government spending, and U.S. government expenditure on health care was just under 83% of total Canadian spending (public and private).Studies have come to different conclusions about the result of this disparity in spending.