Canadian Health Care Reforms - Term Paper Example

Canadian Health Care reforms Introduction The medical or health care industry refers to the aggregation of various sectors that lie within the wider economic system, which offers goods and services in the treatment of patients with preventive, curative, palliative and rehabilitative care. The current health care system in many countries is categorized into various sectors and relies on the interdisciplinary teams comprising of trained experts and personnel, as well as paraprofessionals in achieving the health needs of populations. Across the world, the health care system is one of largest, as well as fastest-growing sectors. In this case, the sectors take up to 10 percent of the countries’ GDP, especially for most of the developed nations. It is important to realize that the health care industry can make up a huge percentage of the country’s economy. For this reason, countries are expected to ensure that they make proper systems that can help them meet the health needs of its people effectively. The economy of any country can be best achieved if proper systems are developed to take care of the various needs and challenges that people face in their daily lives. Besides allocating funds to take of the health needs of people, countries have a duty to ensure that they put in place health professionals, experts and policy makers to make proper regulations to be followed in achieving the health goals and objectives (Howlett, 2014). Without proper planning, it is possible that much wastages in terms of resources can be experienced by countries in the process of achieving their health goals and objectives. This paper examines some of the approaches and strategies being put in place to streamline the Canadian health sector. The paper looks at how the three main actors - the Harper government, the health coalition, and the council of Canadians are teaming up to ensure that health goals and objectives are achieved in the country. Health Care Providers A health care provider refers to the institution like a clinic or hospital or individual that has a responsibility to offer curative, preventive, promotional as well as palliative and rehabilitative care services to individuals and the larger population systematically. It is important to realize that the health care industry is not just run by medical practitioners alone, it also has other professionals, who do not offer direct medical services, rather, they hare important players in the management of the health institutions, which offers the medical services. The incomes that underwriters, administrators and managers, attorneys, marketers and other medical stakeholders are all attributed to the health care costs and expenses. Canadian health care industry The health care system in Canada comprises of various health insurance plans, which are highly socialized and providing health coverage to all the Canadians (Fierlbeck, 2011). The system is funded publicly and is administered on a territorial or coverage basis, which is inscribed in the guidelines that are set up by the federal government of Canada. Under this health care structure, the individual citizens are given different kinds of preventive and medical care and treatment from physicians offering primary care all the way to those in hospitals. These includes physicians that provide dental care services including surgery, x-ray and other kinds of medical services as diagnosed. Except just for few exceptions, all the Canadian citizens are entitled to health coverage irrespective of their medical history, amount of income or their living standards. Current state of the health care system in Canada In the recent past, the health care system in Canada has been the subject of debate and a lot of political controversy in many parts of the country. A section of the people has been questioning the efficiency and effectiveness of the system in the way it delivers treatments and health intervention in a fashionable and timely manner. Many of those questioning the current system advocate adoption of a system to that of the United States, where health care is strictly in the hands of the private sector. On the other hand, some people that object to this idea say that privatization of health services would result in several inequalities, which will mean that only the wealth and other people of higher incomes can access quality health care. In this case, people of lower incomes stand to suffer because of their inability to raise such incomes. Irrespective of the continuing debate, Canada boasts of the highest and healthy life expanding globally, reaching up to 80 years. Additionally, it has some of the lowest and minimal rates of infant mortality among the industrialized nations, something that is attributed to the successful health care systems present in the country today. Currently, the reforms in the Canadian sector have been taking different dimensions with focus on ensuring that the goals and objectives stipulated in the health Act are effectively achieved. It is important that any reforms in the sector to follow the right legal frameworks and not be motivated by wrong intentions that will derail the achievement of the health outcomes. Policies issues in the Canadian Health Reforms Currently, it is an important realization that the theory of policy network has risen to become the main point of focus towards the study and research into public policymaking in the Canadian republic as well as in other countries (Howlett, Ramesh & Perl, 2009). The thinking that goes into policy making as a system that involves various categories of societal and state actors associated and linked together by resource relationships as well as interests has sprung up. This has been viewed as a very string and powerful tool that is useful in the policy analysis from a practical and theoretical perspective. Conceptually, this approach has been significant in helping address many important questions that relate to the role and functions of ideas, actors and special interests emerging in the process of policy making. Institutions and organizing actors into the identifiable categories of the policy-relevant connections has been instrumental in facilitating policy analysis through helping in the process of transcending the limitations characteristic of institutional or purely behavioral forms of analysis that focus entirely on the framework or agency as far as presuppositions and the methodologies are concerned. It is important to realize that this approach has been effective in the provision of the model and structure in the operation of various policy processes that government and many other policy actors have relied on in the designing of effecting of policy outcomes. Policy subsystems in health care management The idea of policy subsystems is said to have originated from the USA on the foundations of the observations made about the federal interest clusters in the USA, government agencies and even the congressional committees. These sections of professional and policy experts developed structures for mutual support to guide in the constant interactions over regulatory and legislative matters. This came about after the three-sided relationship and rigid structures that existed in some sectors like agriculture, education and transportation in their policy processes. These subsystems had received many criticisms because of the fact that it had “captured” the entire policy process. This way, it had subverted the principles and guidelines of popular and famous democracy by making sure that the interests of the triangle members were superior that those of the entire public. Despite of the advantages associated with this democratic policy process, an essential part of these studies highlights the important relationships that exist between the policy and structure of the particular subsystems (Institute, 2006). In this case, the rigid and closed subsystems were often associated with stable and routine policy making, whereby the particular outputs often tended to progressively advocate and advance the interests and perspectives of the members alone, at the expense of the public. The association between the policy process, structure of subsystems and policy outcomes was further underpinned by subsequent studies and researches (Vogel, 2011). In one of the studies, it was discovered that iron triangular-type of policy subsystems were actually not often omnipresent, additionally, policy subsystems kept on varying across various issues over time (Vogel, 2011). Specifically, further analysis revealed the need for a more flexible system that was less rigid and able to articulate not only the needs of the members but also those of the general public. It is important to realize that in this new approach, the new systems would be associated with various open and flexible characteristic policy processes, as well as the propensity for adoption of various innovative policies as opposed to those that had been dominated by the iron triangles. Actor analysis in the Canadian health care system The Harper Government Currently, the Harper government is involved in the process of equalizing portion of the CHT (Canada Health Transfer). In its approach, the government was to replace it with a system that is characterized by a transfer that involves equal per capita. In this case, provinces described as being less populous and with larger and many isolated populations will be faced with huge difficulties and challenges in delivering some of the most expensive widespread health care services. In the same way, provinces that have relatively huge populations of older residents will also find it hard in the process of offering widespread quality health care (Raphael, 2007). One of the cited disadvantages of the cash transfer system in the equal per capita approach is that it most likely leads to a huge gap between the provinces that have and those that do not have enough resources to advance health care needs for its residents. This move has received much criticism from various sections of people who believe that this approach will lead to various unprecedented disparities in the country’s health care industry (Matteo, 2014). According to estimates from the premiers, this new approach will cause a funding gap for the provinces that do not have the health care ability of up to $16.5 billion, which will be spread in the coming five years consecutively. Many people that have faulted the approach claim that it ought to have articulated the platform that is needed to ensure a successful health care system for the entire nation. In this process, the idea of creating a new system by the federal government should have focus on a reliable and stable funding formula that would have incorporated the specific capacities of provinces as far as health care management is concerned. In this case, it would be much easier to set and achieve the national health care needs effectively and efficiently. In this, there wouldn’t be the need to make an equalization of the transfers in health care as well as the national medical care. It is believed that this new budgetary approach is regressive in nature and will most likely be matched with another regressive measure. At the start of 2017, it is estimated that the annual increase stipulated to be at six percent in the developed health transfer will have to be replaced by a formula that associates economic growth and health transfer. In this understanding, the times of unemployment, as well as the economic downturn in Canada will have to cause the federal government in Canada to reduce the health transfers. This measure will lead to a huge $36 billion reduction in the federal funding in the republic that will run for a whole period. The cuts proposed in the new system proposed by Harper the sharing of the cash payment in the CHT will come down substantially from an entire 20.4 percent down to 12 percent that will possibly run in 25 years and above. According to the parliament’s budget office, the implementation of Harper’s approach will go a long way in influencing the health outcomes in the entire country. There needs to be an all-rounded focus on the benefits of this new approach so that health care needs in the country can be effectively achieved. The Council of Canadians For many of the Canadians, universal health care that is publicly funded makes up one of the priorities that policy makers have done in the country. This has been evident in many of the poling conducted in the public opinions (Soroka, 2007). Many of the Canadians have explained that the current system of health care has been vital in ensuring that all people in the country can access medical care. In the opinion polls conducted, support for the health care system has always been strong for all the people in the country. Many Canadians feel that the health care system in the country does not need to have reforms that will lead to unprecedented outcomes in the country’s ability to ensure equality in the achievement of health outcomes in the country (Mullner, 2009). In this case, they are in support of the reforms that make it easy for all people to achieve their health care needs under minimal costs as much as possible. Most of the people have showed their support for the recommendations proposed by Harper. They have noted that these reforms will go a long way in influencing health care practice in the country for a very long time, even for generations to come. Canadian Health Coalition The health care transfers in the Canada’s health reforms have elicited mix reactions from various sections of people in the republic, including the health coalition. While some people have seen the new recommendations by Harper as being important in the future of the health care industry, some have seen them as promoting inequality and an inability for the country to achieve its stated health care goals and objectives. The health coalition in Canada can be described as the left-leaning group that is dedicated towards preserving the present state of Canada’s Medicare system (McGinley, 2012). The coalition was at one time the national organization that was on the forefront advocating the implementation of Romanow Report. For a long time, the coalition has suggested that the Canadian heath care system has to be a private-public partnership as opposed to the long-held public finding model (Norquay, 2011). In this case, the coalition has been showing great support for the recommendations proposed by Harper in the hope that it will go a long way in laying ground for the private-public partnership. They claim that in the past, the public funded model of the health care industry in Canada has been responsible for the high taxation among other negative externalities. They have argued that the recommendations in the Harpers proposal will help the country to have an improvement in the quality of health care practice in the country like that experienced in the United States and other countries that have a different model of health care funding (Marchildon, 2006). They have proposed that the new approach has to include all the policy makers and all other players in the Canadian health sector. However, the implementation of Harpers recommendation still face huge obstacles in their implementation because many other people have showed open criticisms for the new policy, which they say is expected to work with the government in streamlining the face of the Canadian health sector. References Fierlbeck, K. (2011). Health Care in Canada: A Citizens Guide to Policy and Politics. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Howlett, M., (2014). Canadian Public Policy: Selected Studies in Process and Style. Toronto: Toronto University Press. Howlett, M., Ramesh, M., & Perl, A, (2009). Studying Public Policy: policy Cycles & Policy Subsystems, 3ed. Don Mills: Oxford UP. Institute, J. D. (2006). Study of Economic Policy Health Services Restructuring in Canada Conference. Don Mills: Queens University Matteo L. D. (2014). The Government Is Pulling Away From Health Care Spending. Retrieved from. < http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/livio-di-matteo/canada-healthcare-spending_b_5107088.html > Marchildon, G. P (2006). Health systems in transition: Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press McGinley M. (2012). Reforming Canada’s Health care system. Canadian Student Review. 1(4), 16-22. Mullner, R. M (2009). Encyclopedia of health services research. New York: SAGE Publications. Norquay G. (2011). Health-care funding: How Harper views the Canadian federation. Retrieved from. < http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/health-care-funding-how-harper-views-the-canadian-federation/article4182242/> Raphael, D. (2007). Poverty and Policy in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press Soroka S N (2007). Canadian Perceptions of the Health Care System. Health Council of Canada. 2(3), 416-481. Vogel, L. (2011). European health systems under siege. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 183(10), 623-627. Read More