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A Comparison of U.S. Health Care System with Canada

In the previous blog post (you may read the blog here), I talked about the U.S.’s expensive health insurance plan for students and why the public health policy on foreign student health insurance plans is not welcomed by the foreign students. As a Canadian student, I’d like to compare the Canadian provincial healthcare system with the United States health care system from my point of view.

It may not be fair to compare the Canadian provincial healthcare system with the United States health care system since Canada has a universal healthcare plan meanwhile the U.S. does not have one. However, I used to be an international student in Canada, and this allows me to compare UHIP (University Health Insurance Plan) with the U.S. health insurance plan for students. Since both are commercial insurance plans, it will be more representative to make a comparison.

Under UHIP, with 700 dollars insurance premium, you will get the same coverage as the provincial health insurance which covers 100% hospital services, physician’s services and diagnosis & treatment service. UHIP is much better for international students than the U.S. health insurance plans for students in terms of coverage and copay terms.

What causes the differences in healthcare systems between the U.S. and Canada? Professor Mark Pauly from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania believed it is the social value which causes Canadian and American’s different opinion on the health care system (Pauly, 2017). I strongly agree with him. After Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s introduction of Canada’s health insurance system in the 1960s, provincial universal healthcare system became a part of Canadian lives, it became one of Canadians’ ideology. Now it is almost impossible to separate Canadian with public-funded healthcare. However, the U.S. does not have public-funded healthcare in history and the introduction of the universal healthcare system will cost taxpayers billions of dollars. These made is it difficult to launch a universal healthcare system in the states.

What’s your opinion on the necessity of the universal healthcare system in a country? Just share your thought below!

References

Allied healthcare. (2018). US vs Canadian Healthcare: What Are the Differences? Retrieved from https://www.aimseducation.edu/blog/us-vs-canadian-healthcare-differences/

Pauly, M. (2017). Is Canada the Right Model for a Better U.S. Health Care System? Retrieved from https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/lessons-can-u-s-learn-canadian-health-care-system/

Opinion: The Cost of Healthcare in the U.S. May Be Bad for Coronavirus Prevention

Coronavirus outbreak is one of the main focuses in the world now. According to Sheri Fink and Mike Baker, Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States believe that Coronavirus has spread out in the U.S. already (Fink & Baker, 2020). Americans are facing pressures from the Coronavirus outbreak in the United States. Does the cost of the health care system good for Coronavirus prevention? I don’t think so. There are several reasons for my thoughts.

The 1st reason is the expensive healthcare system in the United States. Coronavirus outbreak will cost more for the U. S. society compared with other developed countries since the cost of health services for the U.S. is almost double the cost of health services than other developed countries (Peter G. Peterson Foundation, 2015). Besides, the U.S. Health Care service costs $3.65 Trillion in 2018 (Sherman, 2019). This equals $11,155 per person. The high cost will indirectly increase the insurance premium and make people think about the cost of the health services when treatments are needed.

As a return, the high cost of insurance premiums leads to a larger uninsured rate. According to the United States Census Bureau, 8.5% of American does not have any kind of health insurance (The United States Census Bureau, 2019). This means 8.5% of Americans have low probabilities of seeing doctors when they feel they have symptoms of Coronavirus. This increases the risk of the Coronavirus outbreak to a new level.

In summary, I believe the cost of health services in the United States associated with an increase in probabilities for Coronavirus to spread out.

Do you think the cost of U.S. health services help Coronavirus spread out?

References

Fink, S., & Baker, M. (2020). Coronavirus May Have Spread in U.S. for Weeks, Gene Sequencing Suggests. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/health/coronavirus-washington-spread.html

Peter G. Peterson Foundation. (2015). OECD Health Statistics 2015. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Sherman, E. (2019). U.S. Health Care Costs Skyrocketed to $3.65 Trillion in 2018. Retrieved from https://fortune.com/2019/02/21/us-health-care-costs-2/

The United States Census Bureau. (2019). Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2018. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2019/demo/p60-267.html

First glance of U.S. healthcare as a Foreigner Student

Hello, this is Bojian. As a student who has lived both in the United States and Canada for years, I would like to share my personal experiences with the U.S. health system, especially my experiences with the expensive health insurance plan.

The Healthcare system is a long-time hot topic in the United States. I have lived in the United States as a foreign student for three years. I had some unawesome experience with the United States healthcare system like anyone else. I would like to share my personal experience of seeing a doctor as a foreign student with insurance in the United States. Unlike in Canada, the U.S. does not have universal healthcare. There are 100 dollars copay for general physician visit as per my student insurance policy.

According to the NIHCM Foundation, the out-of-pocket spending for personal healthcare is $338 in 2015 (NIHCM Foundation, 2017). One may observe that even though the overall spending for personal health care has increased by 50%, the average out-of-pocket amount is only $338. However, this does not reflect the cost of medical care for foreign students, the student’s health insurance plan is much worse than normal commercial health insurance plan even thorough foreigner students normally pay a higher premium than average workers. None of my friends dare call ambulance service when I was in the United States. As a student with student health insurance, there are around 1000 dollars copay for ambulance service and we always joke about the cost.

I understand the cost of healthcare is expensive in the United States due to complex reasons, however, it is unbelievable that mandatory student health insurance only covers a very small amount of medical cost. As a foreign student, you can only apply for student medical insurance. If the mandatory enrolled student insurance is worse than normal regular commercial medical insurances given the same level of insurance premium, then why student healthcare insurance is the only option for foreign students?

What’s your opinion about U.S. health insurance? Share yours below!

References

NIHCM Foundation. (2017). The Burden of Rising Health Spending. Retrieved from https://www.nihcm.org/categories/the-burden-of-rising-health-spending