According to Wikipedia, Health care systems are designed to meet the health care needs of target populations. There are a wide variety of health care systems around the world. As for Canada, the health care system in this country is known as a single payer system, where basic services are provided by private doctors, (since 2002 they have been allowed to incorporate), with the entire fee paid for by the government at the same rate. Most family doctors receive a fee per visit. These rates are negotiated between the provincial governments and the province’s medical associations, usually on an annual basis. A physician cannot charge a fee for a service that is higher than the negotiated rate — even to patients who are not covered by the publicly funded system — unless he or she opts out of billing the publicly funded system altogether. Pharmaceutical costs are set at a global median by government price controls. In Canada, federal government set the guidelines that apply to the different provinces and territories of the country in health matters, but the system comes from public funding on a territorial or provincial basis.
There are some myths about the Canadian health care system that not many people know. First myth is that the taxes in Canada are extremely high, mostly because of national health care. Canada’s taxes are indeed slightly higher than those in the U.S. However, Canadians are afforded many benefits for their tax dollars, even beyond health care. Another myth is that the Canadian system is significantly more expensive than that of the U.S. Ten percent of Canada’s GDP is spent on health care for 100 percent of the population. The U.S. spends 17 percent of its GDP but 15 percent of its population has no coverage whatsoever and millions of others have inadequate coverage. In essence, the U.S. system is considerably more expensive than Canada’s. These are just two myths among others to be debunked. For more information about Canadian Health Care, you can visit Canada 411.