Internal Variations in Health-care Federalism in Canada and the United States

Abstract

Federal systems are prone to dividing health benefits inconsistently across subnational jurisdictions. In this article, we examine how federalism intersects with economic and social factors, particularly gender and immigration status, to create structural barriers to accessing and receiving necessary healthcare. Drawing on insights from the historical institutionalist literature and the experiences of immigrant women in the Canadian and American health systems, we find significant subnational variations in access to health services and insurance coverage. Gaps in service – which are filled (if at all) by costly, inaccessible private provision – are the product of piecemeal policymaking, as new programs and services are layered onto existing systems which are themselves outdated and anachronistic. Our analysis demonstrates the need to move beyond analyses of federal state architectures to an intersectional approach to better understand the differential negative impact of subnational variations on equity between social groups and their ability to access to basic health services.