Barriers to Health Care

Cost  Costs are rising due to:  Increase in elderly patients  New expensive techniques  Statistics show that costs have risen from 5.5% of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product in the 1960s to 7.4% in the 1980s.  In the 1990s the percentage rose to 9.4 %. Canadians are starting to discuss what kinds of services should still be provided.

Cost  Many provinces have started to remove tests and procedures have been “delisted” and are no longer free services. In Ontario eye exams are no longer free. Home care services have also been curtailed.

Health Literacy  “Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, evaluate and communicate information as a way to promote, maintain and improve health in a variety of settings across the life course.” (Canadian Public Health Association)  Experts have found that treatments are far more effective when patients understand their ailments and their treatment schedules.

Health Literacy  Alejandro Jadad from the University of Toronto’s eHealth Innovation, which develops software for providing medical information, found the issues preventing health literacy are complex and varied:  Patients don’t understand medical language.  Doctors don’t understand how deep the misunderstanding is.  Patients respect doctors so much that it is difficult to question their advice.  Health literature is too explicit for some cultures.  Minorities are rarely shown in health literature.

Health Literacy in Canada Report (2008)  What is health literacy?  Why does health literacy matter?  What determines levels of health literacy?

Facilities for People with Disabilities  People with disabilities often face obstacles to healthcare testing because medical facilities are made for the able bodied. These are architectural barriers to health.  Another barrier is attitudinal because there are prejudices or misconceptions about the health care needs of disabled people.  The largest barrier to health care for people with disabilities is the lack of knowledge within the healthcare community about how disabilities effect normal health needs.

Income  Canadian Institute for Advanced Research found that relative wealth had a large effect on health. The people in the top quintile of the population were healthier than the people in the next highest quintile.

Income  People with income in the lowest 5% in the years before their retirement are twice as likely to die before 70.  People with high incomes live approximately 12 years longer than people with low incomes.  In the United States where there is no universal healthcare the divisions between low income and high income health is even greater.

Two Tier System  Since 1960 all Canadians have been covered under a one tier universal standard of health care provided by the funding of the provincial and federal governments. Patients are not charged extra fees, the taxation system pays for everything.  The US has a two tier system where the poorest portion of the population gets public health coverage, but wealthier people have access to private healthcare.

Two-Tier System  As pressures increase on the Canadian medical system more people are discussing going to a two- tiered system. The United Kingdom has had this system for years.

Comparing Canadian and American Health Care 

Comparing Canadian and American Health Care  Which system would make us healthier?  In which country would we live longer?  Is basic health care a right or a privilege?