Contact: Graeme Baldwin

44-020-319-22165
BioMed Central
Canadians lead longer, healthier lives than Americans

Compared to their neighbours south of the border, Canadians live longer,
healthier lives. Research published in BioMed Central's open access
journal Population Health Metrics has found this disparity between the
two countries, suggesting that America's lack of universal health care
and lower levels of social and economic equality are to blame.

David Feeny, from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Oregon,
USA, worked with a team of American researchers to study data from the
Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health 2002/03. He said, "Canada
and the US share a common border and enjoy very similar standards of
living, yet life expectancy in Canada is higher than in the US. There
are two distinct potential explanations for the gap: differences in
access to health care and in the prevalence of poverty".

Canadians have a universal 'prenatal to grave' health service, which is
free at point of care, while Americans' access to health insurance is
typically based on employment, income (Medicaid), or age (Medicare), and
is not universal. The degree of social inequality is also more
pronounced in the US. The researchers found that Canadians can expect
2.7 more years of 'perfect health' than Americans – more than half of
the gap found between the richest and poorest people in Canada. Speaking
about the results, Feeny said, "The difference in health between the two
countries seems to be associated with substantial differences in access
to care as well as substantial differences in social and economic
inequality. Yet distinguishing among the potential explanations for the
differences in health between the two countries would require
longitudinal data. Perhaps it is time for Canada and the US to
contemplate a joint longitudinal survey."

###

Notes to Editors

1. Comparing population health in the United States and Canada
David H Feeny, Mark S. Kaplan, Nathalie Huguet and Bentson H McFarland
Population Health Metrics (in press)

During embargo, article available he
http://www.pophealthmetrics.com/imed...?random=336774

After the embargo, article available at the journal website:
http://www.pophealthmetrics.com/

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for
the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of
charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

Article citation and URL available on request at
on the day of publication.

2. Population Health Metrics is an Open Access, peer-reviewed, online
journal addressing all aspects of measurement of the health of populations.

3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science,
Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access
publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by
BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and
are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part
of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the
STM sector.

--
The Tea Party's teabaggers are just the Republican base by another name.