Comparison of Healthcare Systems of Canada, United States and France - Essay Example

The similarity of the United States and French healthcare systems is the co-existence of the public and private care providers that includes a third-party payment. Canada has a different system in that the role of private insurance is still being debated. What is shared by the U.S. and France is a structural feature. The United States spends a lot for healthcare, considered “the highest healthcare cost per capita,” but it is not delivering what is expected of it since other countries which spend less have lower infant mortality and longer life expectancies (Wendel, O’Donohue, & Serratt, 2014, p. 83). It is said that infant mortality and life expectancy provide a glimpse of the population health; meaning, this signals a problem for the U.S. healthcare system.

France has a public-private collaboration of hospital and ambulatory care, reinforced by higher resources of care and services. Ambulatory care for the poor is provided by both the U.S. federal and local government units which can be attained from the county or municipal hospitals, local health authorities, or other not-for-profit health organizations. France’s current health insurance scheme encompasses about 80% of the French population, including illegal immigrants, and spends about 9.5% of its gross domestic product (GDP) for healthcare. The U.S. spends 16% of its GDP on healthcare. Canada spends about 10% of its GDP on healthcare annually (Romanow, 2005, p. 527) and ranks eighth in global healthcare spending (OECD, 2008 as cited in Kelly & Tazbir, 2014, p. 49).

Thesis statement
Access to healthcare does not only mean large spending in healthcare services but needs a system involving a collaborative effort from the various sectors of society to answer to the increasing demand for healthcare from a growing population.

Analysis of the three healthcare systems
Canada and France spend a smaller share of their GDP on healthcare than the United States do but in statistics on infant mortality and life expectancy they appeared to be better (Wendel et al., 2014). In a survey on patient satisfaction, Canadians and Americans had quite the same results, 46% for Canadians and 40% for Americans, saying that they were “fairly or very satisfied” (Richard-Kortun, 2010, p. 123).