Study says lower income Canadians in better health than Americans.

Lowest income Americans are more likely than Canadians in the same earnings group to be in poor health, according to a report in the journal Health Affairs. However, the higher income groups in both countries are roughly equal in health status.

The report indicates that almost one-third (31%) of Americans with the lowest incomes reported fair or poor health, compared with 23% among Canadians in the same group.

Access to health care services for Canadians was comparable to insured Americans. Canadians and insured affluent Americans had similar access to physicians. However, Canadians experienced fewer unmet health care needs overall.

In the broad picture, the report indicates that:

* most Canadians (88%) and Americans (85%) reported being in good, very good or excellent health;

* more women in the U.S. reported that they were in excellent health (25% vs. 23%);

* obesity rates in the U.S. were higher than those in Canada (21% vs. 15%);

* rates for severe mobility were higher in the U.S.

More Canadians reported having a regular medical doctor compared with Americans (85% vs. 80%). Canadians were similar to insured Americans in terms of having access to physicians.

The article, "Comparing health and health care use in Canada and the United States," is based on the Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health, a population health survey conducted by Statistics Canada and the US National Center for Health Statistics of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between November 2002 and June 2003.

www.content.healthaffairs.org/