Rob Rainer of
Canada Without Poverty

Preventing poverty, improving health, reducing health care system costs…part of the transformative opportunity for Canada.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms both provide for the rights of “life, liberty and security of the person.” But people in poverty, in general, have shorter lives, less liberty and less security of their person than their wealthier counterparts. Thus we can see how by preventing poverty, the health of millions of Canadians can be improved, the lives of many of them lengthened accordingly, and thus their right to “life” (as well their rights to liberty and security of the person) better supported. Moreover, by seizing poverty as a human rights issue and combating it more effectively, governments in concert with civil society will help reduce health care system costs. This is part of the transformative opportunity for Canada if fighting poverty is central to the public policy agenda.

“Rich v. poor: The lives we can expect from our income” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/rich-v-poor-the-lives-we-can-expect-from-our-income/article1377610/
“Only 51.2 per cent of Canadian men in the lowest income group (the bottom 10 per cent) can expect to live to age 75. By comparison, 74.6 per cent of high-income earners (the top 10 per cent) can expect to see 75. That is a startling 23.4-point difference – not good odds. For women, the comparative figures are 69.4 per cent of poor women living to 75, compared with 84.4 per cent of wealthy women. A smaller, but still significant, 15-point gap. Put another way, at age 25 a poor man can expect to live an additional 48.6 years. A wealthy man can expect 56 years – a 7.4-year gap. A poor 25-year-old woman can be expected to live 56.5 more years, compared with 61 years for a wealthy woman of the same age. That gap is 4.5 years.” (This data is drawn from the following report: Income disparities in health-adjusted life expectancy for Canadian adults, 1991 to 2001 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2009004/article/11019/key-cle-eng.htm)

Health Care in Canada 2009 http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=PG_2470_E&cw_topic=2470&cw_rel=AR_43_E

“…those in the bottom 20% of neighbourhoods by income are hospitalized more often for heart attacks than those in the top 20% (290 versus 175 per 100,000)….People in low-income neighbourhoods were two to three times more likely to be hospitalized than people in affluent areas for mental health, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and disorders related to substance abuse. They were twice as likely to be hospitalized for ambulatory care sensitive conditions….Less healthy people use more health care….For example, there are 54% more per capita admissions to hospital for stroke from bottom-income quintile neighbourhoods than from those of the top quintile. Lower-income people visit family doctors more often than their wealthier counterparts. In other words health care use and costs are inversely proportional to income and health status. Simply put: the better off you are, the healthier you are – and the less health care you use.”

Reducing Gaps in Health: A Focus on Socio-Economic Status in Urban Canada (this is a critical report with the details summarized in the Health Care in Canada 2009 report noted above)

http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=PG_1690_E&cw_topic=1690&cw_rel=AR_2509_E

“Fix poverty, fix health, top MD says CMA’s president-elect tells homelessness forum doctors must serve community, not just patients”
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/poverty+health+says/2258470/story.html
“The president-elect of the Canadian Medical Association has called on the country’s doctors to become advocates for the eradication of poverty. Dr. Jeffrey Turnbull, chief of staff at The Ottawa Hospital, told a forum on homelessness that doctors must acknowledge poverty as the greatest predictor of an individual’s health. ‘If you really want to advocate for health, if you really want to make changes to health, you have to start to make fundamental changes to the way society is structured,’ Turnbull said in a speech Monday. ‘You have to deal with issues like poverty.’”

“Health spending keeps rising, and it only gets worse” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/health-spending-keeps-rising-and-it-only-gets-worse/article1375966/

“In 2009, we’ll spend about $183-billion on health care. Last year, we spent $173-billion; the year before that, $163-billion.”

Rob Rainer

Executive Director / Directeur executif

CANADA WITHOUT POVERTY / CANADA SANS PAUVRETÉ

1210 – 1 rue Nicholas Street

Ottawa, ON K1N 7B7

(613) 789-0096 (1-800-810-1076)

rob@cwp-csp.ca

www.cwp-csp.ca