Introduction to Law and Economics - Essay Example

In the light of this fact, Jennifer John-Yar Bukrs’ critique of health care funding and the notions of the privatization of health care assume a whole new meaning in the sense that even while affiliating to the provisions of the Canada Health Act 1984, it is viable and possible to make the system more efficient and equitable by resorting to an affordable and efficient privatization of the delivery of the health care services, thereby sparing resources that could be spent on other social imperatives like education and infrastructure.

The way the Canada’s health care system is burgeoning, it is bound to take a toll on the government spending on other social welfare programs (Armstrong & Armstrong, 2008). The rate at which health care costs are augmenting, it is getting quite evident that the territories and the provinces will need to allocate a significant portion of the budgets to healthcare, to the detriment of other areas like infrastructure, education and social welfare. If one considers a 25 year horizon, the Canadian healthcare system is simply not sustainable unless a significant portion of the healthcare delivery is privatized to make the system more efficient (Armstrong & Armstrong, 2008).

When it comes to the standards of health care, Canada tends to stand amongst some of the top nations of the world. Yet, equity in healthcare is an issue that is gaining marked relevance in the current debates on health care. The high standards of health care that are extended by the Canadian health care are not accessible to all sections of the Canadian society. Though there are scarce financial barriers to health care in Canada, there do exist cultural and language barriers to health care in the nation (Armstrong & Armstrong, 2008).

Thereby if the healthcare system in a nation is not able to facilitate an equitable access, this further augments the social barriers. In that context, the privatization of some specific aspects of the healthcare will readily help ameliorate the inequities existing in the health care system. Irrespective of the inefficiencies creeping into the health care system the salient aspect of the Canadian health care that makes it stand high above many other nations is the fact that Canada tends to view access to healthcare as a right and not a commodity (Armstrong & Armstrong, 2008).

However the irony is that the right to health care is becoming such a gargantuan onus that it is impinging on the extension and provision of many other rights like education and social welfare. Thereby a partial and efficiency oriented privatization of the delivery if not funding of the health care services could act as a viable way to divert more resources to other social imperatives. The nature of the health care in Canada is to a large extent imminent on the criterion resorted to for determining efficiency.

However, in a pragmatic context the efficiency in health care ought to be determined on the basis of the amount of resources and funding dedicated to the cause of healthcare to the quantum of services accrued and the volume of improvements facilitated in the health care system. In that context efficiency needs to be the determining factor in deciding as to the aspects of the heath