Reply #10: This is fairly old (1987), but I think the proportions might be close

[murphyj87]

Dollars per capita population per year

note: Canadian totals provide health care to all residents of Canada
The US numbers are based on 100% of the population while failing to adequately cover 38% of Americans (17% with no insurance, 21% with inadequate insurance)

Hospital Fees and Construction
Canada______659_______U.S.___802

Physicians’ Services
Canada______241_______U.S.___369

Health care system/Insurance Overhead
Canada______18________U.S.____95

Other Professionals
Canada______20________U.S._____84

Dentists’ Services
Canada______82_________U.S.___108

Research
Canada______13_________U.S.____36 (Note: Canada has more medical inventions and discoveries per capita than the U.S. for less per capita)

Other Health care
Canada______42_________U.S._____49

Other Institutions
Canada______156________U.S.____158

Public Health
Canada_______67________U.S._____58

Drugs and Medical Appliances
Canada______209_________U.S.____196

Total
Canada______1,507_______U.S.___1,955


In a recent survey on health care satisfaction, Americans WITH INSURANCE were found to be one third less likely than Canadians to have a regular medical doctor, 25% more Americans WITH INSURANCE were more likely to have unmet health care needs than Canadians, and Americans WITH INSURANCE were more than twice as likely to go without required medication than Canadians. These numbers increase substantially for the uninsured. According to the study, 13.2% more U.S. respondents WITH INSURANCE had unmet health care needs while 10.7% of Canadians had unmet medical needs. 7% of U.S. residents, and less than 1% of Canadians had unmet needs because of finances. whereas 3.5% of Canadians had unmet needs because of relatively long waiting times for purely elective surgery. U.S. respondents WITH INSURANCE cited wait times as less than 1% for reasons behind unmet needs. Americans without insurance, however, had no chance of treatment for years and had TO WAIT FOR DECADES until they qualified for Medicare, if they survived that long.

In 1990 Canadian hospitals provided more services at less cost than did acute care facilities in the United States. Canadians spent $2,720 less per discharge for 48 percent longer stays. If U.S. acute care facilities had achieved an average discharge cost comparable to that in Canada, the annual savings among hospitals in the United States would have totaled $84.3 billion. In a comparative study of volumes and costs in medium-size and teaching hospitals, it was found that U.S. hospitals had significantly greater costs for delivering services than Canadian acute care facilities did in almost every department.