- The United States has two options for getting health insurance: through an employer or through a government program like Medicaid or Medicare. Obamacare (also known as the Affordable Care Act) was created to improve access to insurance. It mandated that all individuals had insurance, and provided subsidies for people to afford it. It also banned insurance companies’ from refusing coverage to individuals with pre-existing medical conditions.
The U.S. health system is frequently criticised for not providing universal healthcare and having high costs. Canada has a publicly-funded Medicare system that guarantees access to healthcare. High quality care is also a common feature. The system’s efficiency is evident by the fact that Canada has significantly lower healthcare costs per capita than the United States.