Canada Versus U.S. Health Care

No one pays more for health care than we do here in the U.S., but we are told that if we embrace a public option health care plan (yes, you can still keep the insurance you have now if you are happy with that insurance), then we will be sliding down a "slippery slope" to a Canadian-style health care system.

Hmmmm....

Canada has always seemed like a pretty civilized country to me. They certainly live longer, on average, than the average American.

Let's look at some other numbers:

• Circulatory disease deaths per 100,000:
  Canada: 219
  United States: 265
  
  
• Child maltreatment deaths per 100,000:
  Canada: 0.7
  United States: 2.2
  
  
• Digestive disease deaths per 100,000:
  Canada: 17.4
  United States: 20.5
  
  
• Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births:
  Canada: 5.08
  United States: 6.3
  
  
• Intestinal diseases death rate:
  Canada: 0.3%
  United States: 7.3%
  
  
• Probability of not reaching age 60:
  Canada: 9.5%
  United States: 12.8%

What else?

• The U.S. spends more on health care than Canada, both on a per-capita basis and as a percentage of GDP. In 2006, per-capita spending for health care in the U.S. was US $6,714; in Canada, US $3,678. The U.S. spent 15.3% of GDP on health care in that year; Canada spent 10.0%.
  
  
• In 2006, 70% of health care spending in Canada was financed by government, versus 46% in the United States. Total government spending per-capita in the U.S. on health care was 23% higher than Canadian government spending, and U.S. government expenditure on health care was just under 83% of total Canadian spending (public and private).
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