Comparison of Health Care in the United States and Canada

Abstract

It has long been noted that the systems of health care in both the United States and Canada are markedly different, given the similarities of the two countries to which the health care system belongs. This thesis applies the philosophy of John Rawls's "Justice as Fairness" from his book "A Theory of Justice" to determine which system of health care is the most just, and thus promoting a more just society. This paper uses cancer as a narrowing point for investigation. Using data from different studies, this paper first notes the similarities between the two health care systems before delving into the differences and noting the statistics from three different studies that cover cervical cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer. This paper concluded that if one is a least advantaged member of society, such as one who would be without insurance in the United States, then, given the data found from various sources, that person would have better care in Canada, despite its disadvantages. According to John Rawls's Theory of Justice, Canadian society is more just than that of the United States given its health care system.