The Inception of Canadian Health Insurance and its Effects on the Mortality Rate

Abstract

The Canadian Health Insurance program has been in place for quite some time now and it has always been said that Canadians have some of the best healthcare in the world. Canadian healthcare is very well known throughout the world because every Canadian citizen has the right to healthcare without having to pay for it. The benefits of this program are quite well known but some benefits one might think would result, just might not be there. This paper looks at whether the inception of Canadian Health Insurance has had an effect on the mortality rates of Canadians. Through a statistical analysis, this paper shows that there is no evidence that the Canadian Health Insurance program has had an effect on Canadian aggregate mortality rates. This paper shows that Canadian mortality rates follow a trend to that of the United States. To say Canadians have a similar trend in mortality rate to the United States is perhaps surprising since Canadians are supposed to have a far superior healthcare system.