A review of the literature shows that "there is a very clear and very robust relationship between individual income and individual health. That is, poverty leads to lower health status." (Phipps, 2003). However, this literature does not consider how the various segments of the low-income Canadian population compare in terms of health outcomes. In particular, we know that the working poor do not enjoy the same health benefits as the welfare poor and face more binding time constraints because of their labour market activities. How does this impact their health? Moreover, rural Canadians generally have worse health outcomes than urban Canadians, they also have to cover longer distances to see a physician and the problem is worse for those who live in low income. It is also true that some individuals are at higher risk of persistent poverty than others, a condition associated with the worse health outcomes.
The objective of this study is to shed light on the differences, in terms of health status, access to and use of health care services of different groups of low-income Canadians for year 2005. Their results are also compared to those of non-poor Canadians in order to provide a more complete picture of their health situation.