Is health care system good in Canada? How does it differ from the medical systems in other countries? How much Canadians should pay for medical services? Find answers to all these questions and some other useful information about Canadian medicine in this article. Health care in Canada has long established itself as one of the highest quality all over the world. Here we are going to look at all benefits, which have helped Canadian health care services get the status of the best quality ever!
Organization of healthcare service in Canada
Health care in Canada is the pride of the state. This system receives public funding and has insurance and medical plans of the three territories and ten provinces. The Medicare – the official name of the program – provides citizens of the country with free or partially free services. The system works on the basis of national guidelines, but the responsibility for servicing each client is assigned to each particular province. Securing financing, medicines and personnel is evaluated and executed at the local territorial level.
What’s so unique in the healthcare services in Canada? First, it may seem that other countries have similar organization. But it is not so. The fact is that in any medical system has two main components – the financing system (funding) and direct service medical services (medical service delivery). The originality of the Canadian system is that the 90% service delivery is carried out by doctors and specialists in the private way, that is, doctors have registered private enterprises to provide medical services. In this case the doctor buys from the state the right to a private practice in the form of not only a business license, but also a special medical license. Doctor bills for the services, but the patient does not pay directly to the doctor, the doctor receives money from the so-called MSP – medical service plan, that is, from the state of the national insurance company.
Exceptions are only those cases where the MSP does not cover any specific services, such as the services of the clinic of ultrasound diagnostics, in vitro fertilization and abortion clinic, eye surgery clinics, cosmetic surgery, etc. In these cases, the relationship between patient and physician are based purely on a commercial basis. Doctor bills, the patient pays out of his pocket. The same situation is with drugs.
How to use all privileges of Canadian healthcare system?
In order to be able to use the public health insurance system, every resident of Canada must obtain health insurance card. Any visit to the doctor begins with the presentation of credit card insurance when it comes to the provision of services included in the compulsory health insurance.
The range of services is very wide: from therapeutic care to conduct of the serious and costly organ transplants for vital indications, as well as state programs of treatment of patients with cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and similar health problems.
Who plays the main role in Canadian health care system?
The health care system in Canada imposes a major role to therapists, who are responsible for primary health care, which is about 51% of the country’s physicians. Therapist determines which health problem you have and send you to the specialist of the necessary field and what kind of medicines the patient should be appointed (especially when it comes to medicines, which can be bought strictly on the recipe), which care the patient requires and what preventive measures you need to follow in the future. This is a family doctor whom the patient has the right to choose by himself or following friend’s recommendation. After getting a referral from a family doctor, you can be sure that on the appointed day and hour a specialist will conduct the necessary examination.
How much does Canadian medicine cost?
If you are a visitor of the country or an immigrant, it is better to take care of your health better as during the first 183 days of your stay in Canada you will have to pay for medical services. Just one day of hospitalization can cost you $ 3,000, and if you want special treatment- even more. However, there is a solution. One of its advantages is that all people who live in the country and its territory for more than 3 months per year (this must be documented), may enjoy many medical services being covered by insurance.
If you want to play it safe, you can always take out health insurance, using the services of private insurance companies. The policy provided by that company guarantees you an opportunity to address urgently to the hospital in the case of colds, fracture, infectious diseases. In addition, if you have some chronic disease, treatment in case of an aggravation of some of them is also included in the policy of medicine in Canada. The drugs, which will be used for your treatment, are also covered by insurance. This policy can be used anywhere in the country.
One more reason to get insurance policy is that the operations in Canada are very expensive. For example, a simple operation to remove the appendix may cost you about $ 10 000 plus additional services: procedures, images, medications. And even a visit to the doctor of uninsured patients will cost from 100 to 250 dollars, depending on the clinic. However, insured residents may be eligible for medical insurance coverage in Canada from 5000 to 100 000 dollars, depending on the cost of the operations and services.
Emergency medical assistance
The public health insurance system includes the provision of emergency medical assistance as well. In case of acute need of such assistance it is necessary to deliver the patient to the nearest hospital emergency department where he or she will be examined by the doctor who will tell a preliminary diagnosis, or provide first aid and allow the patient go home, or place in the emergency ward to provide initial intensive treatment and refine the diagnosis, the patient may be hospitalized for treatment by specialists. If the patient cannot get to the emergency department by himself, he can call an ambulance.
Stomatology services in Canada
As for the stomatology, then this sphere operates independently from the health care system. Exceptions are cases when the patient needs to receive treatment of the dental surgeon. Many Canadian employers include social package, which includes a partial payment for dental services, the so-called benefits, which usually cover 80% of the cost of dental services. Dental clinic itself calculates the required amount from the patient’s insurance social package, he pays only the difference in cost if the insurance includes dental care.
Canadian dental treatment approach is different from many other countries. Here, in the opinion of many people who have had the opportunity to compare these services. dentists prefer doing their best to preserve natural teeth.
Free healthcare for the least socially protected people
Canadian medicine is characterized by the fact that 95% of its institutions are not commercial entities that are controlled by the Board of Directors, the municipality or volunteer organization. Here medicine takes care of the least socially protected categories of citizens:
- children,
- unemployed,
In addition, the provinces and territories provide the above mentioned groups of people with such medical services as examinations and treatment by an ophthalmologist and dentist. These people have the right to get certain medical products free of charge as well as the devices for people with disabilities (wheelchairs, prostheses, etc.).
Minister of Health in Canada is directly responsible for control over the work of the ministry (Health Canada), as well as the application of legislation in the field of medicine regarding the elderly. In addition, it is also responsible for monitoring the work of Drug Rehabilitation Center, Canadian institutions working on the study of issues of public health. The minister is obliged to control the work of the Commission on the analysis of information on hazardous materials and some other organizations.
Physical and online drugstores
Buying medications via internet may be not safe but it is not about Canadian online pharmacies. Here you will find only legitimate drugstores, which provide a lot of services. For example, if you doubt, which drug may help you, you are welcome to get the medical consultation from the qualified specialists. Moreover, you can be prescribed a drug online as well. It is very convenient as there is no need to go out anywhere. It is possible to order drugs’ delivery from the website. There are a lot of benefits you can enjoy using online drugstore’s services. Check out the list below with the main benefits:
- Friendly customer support
- Around the clock work
- Authentic drugs
- Lower prices
- Easy to make an order
- Possibility to receive an online drug’s prescription
All pharmacies have the common database. By registering once, you are in their system, and it will take you less time with the following order. Your recipe story is being stored in order you can make your next order easily by using a call. Tell the exact date and time, which suits you to get your order and it will wait for you. The most “advanced” pharmacies offer the shipment services.
In addition, in case you have used all updates available by prescription, pharmacists will contact your family doctor with the aim to update the recipe. Very convenient, doesn’t it?
If you find yourself in the physical pharmacy, you also will be satisfied with the level of customer service presented by pharmacists and assistants. Pharmacists who have special higher education will be glad to advise you on all the nuances of the use of drugs. You can also seek advice what medicine is best to buy from those that are non-prescription, or to tell what hurts. Assistants are well aware of the range of drugs, preparing your order to delivery. The large pharmacies have very easy organization of medications: shelves of the drugstore are usually divided thematically: for example, here you can find drugs from stomachache and in the next section – a great choice of pills for throat pain relief. Moreover, to make it even easier to find exactly what you need there is a division of medications by the impact: light, strong and extra strong drugs. One more criteria to choose is by age (children and adults), often there are also female and male versions of multivitamins and other drugs placed separately to save your time while searching for the necessary drug.
Why are Canadian clinics one of the best in the world?
Clinics of Canada are accessible to everyone. They offer the most modern equipment and qualified medical staff. The system of healthcare here is highly developed and has an extensive network of clinics and hospitals, in which you can receive comprehensive medical care. The policy pursued by the Canadian government in the field of public health is aimed at ensuring that all residents of the country, regardless of income, receive equal and qualified medical care. Thus, an effective tool in obtaining medical care is medical insurance in Canada, and a significant discount to the purchase of prescription drugs can be obtained by registering in the pharmaceutical programs. When you move from one province to the other one residents of Canada may still rely on free medical care.
Facts proving the effectiveness of Canada’s medicine
In comparison with other countries, the treatment efficiency in Canada is several times higher. Health of Canadians is the best proof of the fact that existing health care system really works efficiently:
- The life expectancy is 78.6 years (women- 81.4 years, 75.8 years-men), This is one of the highest rates among all developed countries.
- The average infant mortality rate 5.6 per 1,000 live births.
This is one of the lowest rates all over the world.
As you can see the Canadian public health system is one of the most reliable if not the best one even. There are no doubts that all provided services are at the highest level.
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