Tom Kelly final version

The United States and Canada are two countries that share many similarities as those in Europe. However, while geographic proximity, similar economic structure and shared histories are what some argue led European countries to converge upon a common method of financing health care post-WWII, the same variables have not produced this between the United States and Canada. This is puzzling, because prior to 1966, when Canada completed the change to a single payer, universal health care system, both countries financed their health systems largely through the market and their costs for health care, as a percentage of GDP was identical. Considering these circumstances and that numerous American interests groups and presidential administration’s that have called for a single payer, tax based systems, whilst in Canada, the conservative governments of the 1980’s tried to implement market based financing, it is interesting to examine why financing health care in the United States and Canada has continued to be so different. Tom Kelly Understanding the continental divide: how do we explain the different developments between the American and Canadian systems for managing health risks? 1 1. Inconsistency in the Industrialised World