Dl. Williamson et Je. Fast, POVERTY STATUS, HEALTH BEHAVIORS AND HEALTH - IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIALASSISTANCE AND HEALTH-CARE POLICY, Canadian public policy, 24(1), 1998, pp. 1-25
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.