Parting At Crossroads: Emergence Of Health Insurance
Answer:
Introduction
Health Insurance refers to special kinds of insurance coverage that envelop the costs of an individual’s surgical and medical expense. Taking into account the overall burden of expenses related to healthcare system and the general healthcare of a person, insurers formulate routine financial structures in the form of payroll tax or monthly premium that helps in providing the money to pay for the benefits. The healthcare prevailing in Canada is publicly funded, and Canadian citizens who are permanent residents of the place are eligible to apply for specific public health insurances from their territory and/or province. Conversely, most non-government and private health coverage in the United States is employment based. This assignment will critically discuss the findings that are presented in an article of comparative politics titled ‘Parting at the Crossroads’.
Key points- Aims and objectives of the article are associated with the fact that the author tried to explore and provide an explanation on why the United States and Canada have embarked upon two different parts and resulted in the development of varied forms of health insurance systems. Owing to the fact that both the countries had similar kind of health insurance system before the 1960s, made the author unravel the underlying factors that resulted in a change of Canadian system. She conducted a theoretical debate and examined the role that healthcare reform demands played on the political institutions that were largely responsible for governing the insurance systems prevailing in both the countries. The statements presented by the author were based on a comparative historical analysis. She identified major political institutions as primary game rulers, who were mainly responsible for shaping and designing the state and the party systems. This acted as a major determinant of the insurance policies that were formulated by the government. She also stated that these political institutions were for the most part responsible for either elevating or reducing the opportunities of health policies that were accessible to the general public. Formal institutions were also recognised to play a pivotal role in governing the political parties in their processes. She also elucidated on the role of health reforms in Canada (CCF-NDP) and the Medicare for the Aged Act (MAA) in the United States that restricted the federal age eligibility to the aged residents. Failure of organised labour to effectively bargain for retiree health insurance resulted in the legalization of federal health insurance for the elderly in 1965 (Maioni, 1997).
Convincing- Some of the points put forth by the author were convincing. This can be accredited to the fact that in the US, healthcare plans are generally delivered through private companies. US residents usually take care of their health system without any particular assistance from the government. Conversely, the healthcare system in Canada is funded by a single system. The coverage is publicly funded and funds are obtained from the provincial and federal taxes. Another aspect that helped is that health insurance care is usually provided by plans in Canada that have been created in each territory and province, in place of a unified single federal health plan. Although the Canadian government is largely accountable for paying into the health insurance plans, the province and territory also holds and accountability for taking this money in order to create a system, under the guidelines that have been enforced by the Canadian health act (CHA). Furthermore, her statements can also be considered convincing since the Canadian healthcare system comprises of an estimated 10 autonomous provincial healthcare system that have the duty of reporting to the provincial government and a unified federal system. This factor results in the formation of a significant degree of variation in the coverage and funding between the US and Canada. Accuracy of a statement can also be established by the fact that the direct healthcare government funding in the US is restricted to Medicaid, Medicare, and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that usually covers senior citizens, the disabled, poor people, and children who are eligible (Maioni, 1997).
On the other hand, the Canadian healthcare system has the role of providing coverage for a plethora of private and public delivery, which is controlled by regional health authorities and private boards, in place of the government. However, some of the facts presented by her are not convincing, since she did not take into account the paradox of modern federalism that exists in the United States. Centralization has resulted in an improvement in the capacity and accountability of the local and the state government, in addition to the concomitant political regulations that have made the government more effective and representative. The immediate consequences for the policies related to increasing burden of unceasing and degenerative disorders for also not taken into account. During the previous generation all the countries had diversified their health policies in order to a code for increased priority, with the aim of reducing or preventing the disabling impacts of chronic diseases. Thus, in addition to studying the financing and organisation of medical services, relevant data allied with the health care policies should also have been considered, for drawing the comparison Nursing (Maioni, 1997).
Take home message- In the article the author has traced the historical divergence of methodology related to healthcare to the year 1944, when the social democratic party also referred to as the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) acquired public support in the provinces, for pushing through a new form of health coverage that was called public medical insurance. All the success of this particular public health care program was able to demonstrate that presence of such an effective insurance program throughout the nation could prove successful. Universal healthcare was rejected by the ruling liberal federal government. However, continuous pressure from the CCF resulted in the adoption of national healthcare insurance coverage in the year 1966, which was accompanied by an increase in the liberal concerns. Health reform issues played a pivotal role during the similar time frame in the politics of America, where a universal healthcare system was introduced during the mid 1940, backed by support from the public (Maioni, 1997).
However, divisions that were present in the Democratic Party, combined with strong opposition from the American Medical Association resulted in restricting the legislative action. Public support soon reduced for the idea that eventually resulted in the adoption of unlimited healthcare program in 1965. This subsequently led to the formulation of a dual tiered system in the United States, where the Medicaid program covers the poor and Medicare program the insurance coverage to the elderly. This leaves the remaining population to get enrolled for different forms of voluntary health insurance. Hence, the major difference exists in the legislative and federal system between both the countries. While Canada is a federation that contains an institutional categorisation of political powers, the federal government present in the United States principally controls the healthcare program. The provincial government of Canada emphasized more power over healthcare insurance, compared to their American counterparts. This is principally in charge of the enforcement of policy innovations that directly target administration of Healthcare services in the entire nation (Maioni, 1997).
Conclusion
Thus can be concluded that, there are differences in the political culture and federalism between the two countries namely, United States and Canada. However, there was no specific factor that predestined Canada to depart from the US, during the time period 1930-1960s. There existed no fundamental difference between the morals and the values of the Americans and Canadians that could be held responsible for such a stark divergence in the policies, related to social reforms. However, lack of adequate access to health insurance is a persisting problem in both the countries.
Bibliography
Maioni, A. (1997). Parting at the crossroads: The development of health insurance in Canada and the United States, 1940-1965. Comparative Politics, 29(4), 411-431. DOI: 10.2307/422012
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