a lot of the differences in healthcare quality come down to expenditure.
however, on any statistical measure canada comes out well above the US on
absolute health coverage and value-for-money, which is why it's ranked as
one of the healthiest countries. if you're rich, of course, you can buy the
best healthcare in the US.
here are some figures from the WHO statistics
http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat2006/en/index.html
mortality, especially maternal mortality, is a widely used indicator of the
quality of emergency care. here are figures for adult mortality (between
15-60 years, female); under-5 mortality; infant mortality; maternal
mortality. all figures are per 1000 (population or births) except for
maternal mortality, which is per 100 000 pregnancies.
Canada: 57; 6; 5; 5
US: 81; 8; 6; 14
for comparison, Cuba (which has a particularly good health system relative
to income levels, whatever its other failings) and India.
Cuba: 85; 7; 6; 33
India: 202; 85; 62; 540
here are some figures on spending - total health spending as a % of GDP;
private spending as a share of total health spending; total health spending
per capita. the US gets pretty poor healthcare for the amount spent. one
reason for this is pharma patents.
Canada: 9.9%; 30%; $2989
US: 15.2%; 55%; $5711
Cuba: 7.3%; 13%; $251
India: 4.8%; 75%; $82
one criticism of canadian healthcare is that it doesn't allow people who
want a better service to pay more to get it. in belgium, on the other hand,
part of your income gets taken into a state provided health insurance
scheme, but there is ample provision of private health services. the state
insurance provides a fixed reimbursement for every kind of service, and
while you can find doctors / hospitals that charge slightly above what you
get reimbursed, ensuring basic healthcare access to everyone, you can also
find "better" doctors for more money. having got an appointment with a knee
specialist at 9 pm on a day's notice, i can't complain.
-rishab
