POVERTY STATUS, HEALTH BEHAVIORS AND HEALTH - IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIALASSISTANCE AND HEALTH-CARE POLICY

This study investigated the relationships among poverty status, health behaviours, and the health of 130 Albertans living in poor families. For the purposes of this study, poverty status indicated whether poor families were receiving social assistance along with comprehensive hea lth care benefits or whether they were working poor without comprehens ive health care benefits. Findings from seven separate path analyses i ndicate that poverty status was differentially related to the health o f participants. Specifically, working poor respondents were found to b e generally healthier than their social assistance counterparts except in those instances in which the working poor were prevented from fill ing needed prescriptions because they lacked the economic resources to do so. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of t hese findings for social assistance and health care policies.