Social Determinants Of Health Care In Canada

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Part 1- The fact that health care professionals can influence a person's consumption of services is not a major cause for concern in Canada. 1000 words.

In Canada, the influence of health care professionals on individuals' consumption of services is a topic of ongoing debate and scrutiny. Throughout the years, various positions have been taken, and many theories and concepts have been proposed to address and discuss such issues in Canada's healthcare system. At the crux of this issue lies a disparity in knowledge and expertise between health care professionals and patients, with practitioners possessing specialized medical knowledge that patients lack, this often results in significant knowledge differentials, otherwise known as a context …show more content…
Discussions become more complicated in relation to assessing whether this trend carries on within the Canadian healthcare system, where all medical services are mediated by the government and implied to be accessible by all given that community expenses (taxes) pay for health services. In exploring such complexities, various scholars, economists, and healthcare professionals point to income elasticity and social determinants of health as key concepts in assessing whether low- and high-income individuals demand different qualities of health care. Hence, this paper argues that, specifically within private healthcare, people of higher incomes expect, and are able to receive, a more efficient and a higher quality of care. At the same time, this paper denotes this to not be the case within contexts where health care is ‘free’ at the point of service. In order to support this thesis, the paper draws on clinical discussions in relation to the concepts. To begin, the income elasticity of demand “measures how responsive consumers are to changes in their level of income” (Ringel, et al., 2002, p. 10) — it is a measurement of the percentage change in quantity demanded to the percentage change in income. Some scholars argue that higher-income individuals tend to consider their options and weigh the cons and benefits more often than lower-income individuals (Ringel, et al., 2002). These positions are often exemplified through the assumption that high-income individuals have the resources to find specific doctors who align with their values, understand their body’s needs, and comply with their agenda’s. They have the capacity to seek what they want, what works best for them, and in the time frame they want. Given this, it follows that people who come from lower incomes are not always able to enjoy
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