Both parties across the border are busy setting the stakes for the election as voters head to the polls in November in the U.S. and October 2025 in Canada. Key themes include the economy, immigration and, in the U.S., democracy itself, with health care in particular a hot-button issue that affects nearly every voter.
Pew Research Center May Found The affordability of health care is one of the biggest problems facing Americans, with 57% saying it’s a “very big problem” and 32% saying it’s a “moderately big problem.” It’s a common concern across party lines, but not equally: 65% of Democrats say it’s a “very big problem.” Citation Only 48% of Republicans considered this a “very big problem.”
Canadians are similarly concerned about health care. Ranking Among the top challenges facing Canada, only housing affordability/access (46%) and the rising cost of living (71%) ranked third at 42%.
That’s demographics, idiot.
Both countries have aging populations that require more healthcare resources: In the United States, the number of people aged 65 and older is expected to grow from 58 million in 2022 to about 82 million by 2050.
Meanwhile, in Canada, the elderly population is Expected It is expected to grow by 68% between 2017 and 2037, with the population aged 75 and over doubling.
The results are less than ideal
In both countries, health care costs and outcomes are far from optimal. Some consider the Canadian health care system to be a great alternative to the American system, but Canada’s performance has been mixed. Canada’s universal health care system, which is covered by provincial governments and funded jointly by the provinces and the federal government, is far from perfect.
Canada spend Health care costs about $344 billion, or 12% of GDP. Found In Ontario, the country’s most populous province, wait times vary widely between hospitals, with some patients waiting up to a year for hip or knee replacements — and for some, the waits can be fatal. Report It was revealed last year that at least 17,000 Canadians will die while waiting for surgery or diagnostic scans between 2022 and 2023. Hundreds Emergency rooms across the country are closing due to staffing shortages. 6 million Approximately 15% of Canadians do not have a family doctor.
But the Canadian system is better than the U.S. system in some ways. spend The United States spends more on health care than any other developed country. U.S. health care spending, including private and public funds, will reach $4.8 trillion in 2023, about 17% of GDP, and is expected to grow, reaching nearly 20% of GDP by 2032. Most of this is paid by individuals, with the average annual employer health insurance premium at running Currently, premiums for an individual plan are over $8,400 and for a family plan they are just under $24,000.For individual plans without an employer option, premiums average nearly $1,200 per month.
America only Rich countries without universal health care. The number of uninsured Americans has declined in recent years, but about 27 million Due to the limited coverage area, the number rise Millions more people are struggling to get health insurance.
According to data From the Senator’s Office. Bernie Sanders68,000 Americans die each year due to lack of access to health care. Third 50% of Americans do not have a primary care doctor. This failure Chronic illness The death toll is rising. The American system is very problematic. decline In recent years, the average life expectancy has risen from 79 years in 1990 to 2019 Today it’s up to 76.4.
Who will improve healthcare?
In the United States, Donald Trumpsay He is open to cutting Medicare and opposes Medicare for All, support Some people have done it before Warned The former president even went so far as to say he would “destroy” Medicare. Warned if KamalaHarris If Trump wins in November, the US will be “thrown into a communist system with universal healthcare”.
Harris, who previously supported universal health care, Abandoned Medicare for All. Instead, she says, she will build on Biden-era policy platforms that include Medicare price negotiations aimed at lowering drug costs for all patients, including those on Medicare and other plans.
Canada’s federal election is still more than a year away, and the major parties have yet to release their policy platforms, but the ruling Liberal Party is under pressure to improve the health care system, which is primarily the responsibility of the provinces but which the federal government pours billions of dollars into each year.
in Mayprime minister Justin Trudeau’s The budget proposal includes a 5% annual increase in health-care funding to provinces through 2028, totaling more than C$200 billion. The government has also promised other measures to boost the health-care workforce, including student loan forgiveness for doctors and other health-care workers working in rural and remote areas and improving the foreign qualification process for immigrants in the field.
The federal government is also pushing ahead with dental care and prescription drug programs aimed at covering the costs for millions of Canadians. That sounds like a big deal, but the bulk of the work falls to the provinces, which have primary responsibility for health policy.
The Liberal Party claims the leadership of the Conservative Party Pierre Poirievre Probably. Axe Pharmacare He has mentioned social security programs and other things, but he has not made any promises. His party has not released a complete plan, Solution To address issues related to the shortage of doctors and nurses, it has been proposed to establish national testing standards for licensure that would speed up the certification of foreign-trained workers.
Poirievre also Committed Promises to maintain Liberal 10-year funding plan and cut wait times Priority.
What does all this mean for the ballot box?
Health care is already influencing election strategy in Canada and the United States. At the Democratic National Convention this week, Senators Bernie Sanders Hit with a hammer The goal of reducing medical costs Dominant The majority of the rally attendees were New Mexico governors; Michelle Lujan GrishamWarned Trump and J.D. Vance It would “dismantle” affordable care.
Graham Thompson“He’s walking away from the promise of universal health care as part of a broader strategy to move toward the political center,” said Harris, a senior analyst in global macro geopolitics at Eurasia Group. He believes it’s an attempt to present himself as a “regular Democrat” who won’t scare anyone, and it could be a crucial move for Harris’ chances of winning the November election.
But in the north, the governing Liberals can’t do the same thing. Thompson says it would be hard for Trudeau to pull off such a ploy after nearly a decade in power. Instead, Trudeau will have to argue that the funding transfers and reforms his party introduced at the federal level reduce wait times in the provinces, preserve emergency departments and help Canadians find a family doctor.
” [Trudeau] “They’re using health care as a tool against the Conservatives to portray them as outcasts in the eyes of voters,” he said. “That could backfire by highlighting problems that are already in the system.”
Problems that have been building for decades won’t be resolved in months or years, but voters still expect results, and the two countries face a common challenge heading into Election Day: fixing a health care system that neither side can ignore but neither seems able to solve.
