Universal Health Care and the Rise of Private Health Care in Canada

Several decades ago, Canada implemented universal health-care, which still thrives to this day. Through this system, Canadians collectively pay for medical care through taxes to obtain rightful access to health care. As a proud Canadian, I am a strong supporter of this system. Although Canada’s health care system has proven to be very effective, it is still unfortunately criticized by many. Over the years, Canada has implemented an additional system to seek health care through the adoption of private health-care clinics. I personally believe that private health in Canada pose a threat to our country. 

I believe the use of private health care clinics does not give everyone an equal chance and opposes Canada’s values.  Canadians take pride in our belief that health care is provided on the basis of need, rather than the basis of being able to pay; we see health care as a right, rather than a privilege. A large percentage of the Canadian population cannot afford patient-paid treatment, therefore it is only available for the wealthy. I see this as an injustice, and I think that the equality that is upheld by universal health-care could decline with the increase of private health care in Canada. 

Just like the health-care system in the United States, the cost of patient-paid treatment in Canada is high. I think that with the increase of private clinics in Canada, it could start to reflect the poor outcomes observed in the United States, in which their health care expenses are much greater than many countries. Theoretically, universal health-care is not “free” because Canadians pay through taxes, but it still costs us much less compared to private health-care in the United States.  

I can see how there are some downsides to our universal health care system and why some people might want to move towards private health care systems. For example, I can acknowledge that Canada’s wait times are a little crazy. Canadians have long wait times in the emergency department, long wait times to see specialists, etc., and these wait times could be diminished with private health clinics. Furthermore, private health care clinics can afford more advanced medical technology than public clinics/hospitals. But in reality, getting private health-care is not that simple when you look at how expensive it is. I believe that if Canada found a way to reduce the wait times within our universal health-care system, most Canadians would be pretty happy.