To what extent does poor health precede welfare?
BACKGROUND
It is well known that individuals receiving social assistance have more health problems than those with higher incomes. In this paper, we estimate the proportion of social assistance recipients who were on welfare following a drop in health status.


METHODS
The study population consisted of Saskatchewan adults who had been continuously off social assistance for 12 consecutive months followed by 6 months on social assistance. Health status was measured by the use of physician services. We examined changes in physician service rates during the 18-month period.


RESULTS
Forty-nine percent of individuals in the study population had increases in the number of physician services over the 18-month period. For these individuals, 53% of the increase in service use occurred during the 12 months prior to receiving social assistance.


CONCLUSIONS
Deteriorating health, as measured by increased physician service use, seems to be one factor that precedes many people's receipt of welfare. A focus on improving health status may be one way to keep people off welfare.
Morris
Evan
E
EcoTech Research Ltd., Regina, SK. ecotech@sasktel.net
Rosenbluth
David
D
Scott
Doug
D
Livingstone
Trish
T
Lix
Lisa
L
McNutt
Mary
M
Watson
Felecia
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010820:Physicians; D011203:Poverty; D011632:Public Assistance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012042:Registries; D012525:Saskatchewan / Q000453:epidemiology; D012937:Social Mobility / Q000191:economics*; D012946:Social Welfare / Q000191:economics*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors