Canadians generally consider American health care to be inequitable, unfair and inefficient, since it costs more than any other health are system in the world, yet still leaves 45.7 million people uninsured.
While there is no question that some of these perceptions are broadly well-founded, the current U.S. health care reforms are designed to significantly improve health insurance coverage, and they contain several mechanisms explicitly designed to measure and address health disparities. Meanwhile, over the past few years, several states and municipalities – particularly Massachusetts, the City of Boston, California and New Jersey – have implemented progressive and innovative health equity strategies.
This presentation by Wellesley Institute Policy describes how some of these state and local strategies could actually provide valuable lessons, options and insight for Canadian policymakers.