Social And Economic Policy Decisions Impact Income Equality

Canada is a ‘high-income nation’, possessing industrialized economies, technologically advanced industries, and high per capita income (Kendall et al. 2016: 24). Resulting in Canada much receiving international scrutiny as it has a vast number of individuals living in relative poverty (Kendall et al. 2016: 29). Particularly as many as five million, or one in seven people live in relative poverty in Canada (Kendall et al. 2016: 29). Constituting relative poverty is living below the standard of living relative to the average individual in Canada (Levine-Rasky 2017). In addition, income inequality acts as a social determinant of health (SDH), as it impacts the economic and social conditions of an individual or a community (Raphael 2016:

In a recent interview in the Ottawa Citizen, Justin Trudeau spoke on his decision to increase taxation on the wealthy upper class in order to redistribute money to the middle and lower class. This is in response to the issue of stalled median household income where Canada’s GDP has doubled yet household income has only increased by 15% (Kennedy 2015). This hints at income inequality in Canada, as it sheds light at the struggle of middle class families to provide for their families. Parents are having to choose between their retirements or providing education for their child (Kennedy 2015). To Justin Trudeau, this means that “something isn’t working anymore” (Kennedy 2015). Most likely, he senses that the way money is earned and distributed in Canada is highly unbalanced, leading to a income gap between the rich and the poor. Trudeau’s solution to middle class worries is to increases taxation on upper class

In today’s society it is unfortunate to say that a person’s income does reflect their value to society. Classism, it affects all of us. The government has classified you based on your yearly income. For example; if your income is between $18,000 - $23,000 you are classifed as a lower class Canadian. If your income is between $35,000 - $55,000 you are the average middle class Canadian. To be classified as an upper class Canadian your income would need to be anything above $55,000. The government has also classified those with combined income so if you are common - law, or married. Have you ever wondered why a doctor gets paid more than a construction worker? A doctor gets paid roughly $360,000 a year compared to the $63,000 a year income a

The issue of economic inequality has ruined the economy of the United States completely. This issue is making its way to Canada, which is causing more of its citizens to go into poverty. When this problem first started to arise, it was strongly ignored by the government because they believed it would not cause a problem. However, over the past twenty years, it has increased rapidly which caused the gap between rich and poor to became enormous. Moreover, the wealth of the rich strongly depends on the disadvantage of the poor. The only way the rich will stay rich is if the poor stay poor. The top one percent of Canadians receive 318,000 dollars on average whereas the bottom ninety percent receive only 28,000 dollars. If the poor start getting high

The Harper government tend to push aside many problems that exist in this nation. The wealth gap is widening tremendously; the rich are getting richer and the poor are still poor. According to Statistics Canada, "The top 20 per cent of Canadian families by income saw their average net worth rise from $721,900 in 1999 to $1.3 million in 2012, adjusted for inflation. Those numbers compares to the bottom

Income is an important element of the social determinants of health because it appears in many different experiences and is a key determinant of the premature mortality and premature years of lives lost from diseases among Canadians (Raphael, 2009, p 8). The poor are those who fall below the low-income cut off line as established from Statistics Canada’s data. Such people do not have the basic income for food, clothing or shelter. These are people who are either unemployed, laid - off, non-beneficiaries of social service assistance just to mention a few and are unlikely to have three meals a day. Curry -Stevens (2009, p. 52) explained that those at the bottom already show the worst form of market failure and as a result their market income is not enough for themselves and their families to survive on.

Why Inequality in Wealth Distribution and Income is An Issue In Canada, the members of the population are unaware that the income status in addition to wealth distribution shapes the health outcomes of the society (Mikkonen, & Raphael, 2010). The quality of health in the society rests on the contribution of factors that range from the housing of the population and food insecurity in addition to education and employment opportunities that impact the working conditions of the members of the community. Notably, all the social and economic aspects that are also social determining factors of health hinge on aspects of income and wealth distribution for the public. According to the Organisation for Economic Corporation and Development, Canada is among the two wealthiest developed nations globally (Groff, & Goldberg, 2000).

Inequality in Canada is not as prominent as many other places around the world, although it does remain in certain segments of Canada. There are many forms of inequality in Canada and internationally, although this papers main focus is going to be the inequality of wealth. According to Steven Kerstetter “Canadians may view their country as a land of opportunity, but it is also a land of deep and abiding inequality in the distribution of personal wealth” (Kerstetter 2002). The “gaps between the rich and poor remain evident in Canadian statistics” (Kerstetter 2002), Canadians have always kept financial security as an essential element of life and have tried to obtain and sustain it within their lives. Frank Cunningham’s article, “What’s

Poverty has been known to affect certain groups harder than others; people who are more at-risk of being struck by poverty include people with disabilities, children, aboriginal people, single parents, and new Canadians. Poverty is not known to have one single cause, instead it is a complex mix of causes based on each individual case. It can be the result of the social assistance programs that families and individuals are forced to rely on as a mean of support, perhaps cultural barriers stand in the way, or perhaps education, whatever the reason it is a difficult cycle to break. There is a relationship between poverty and poor health, lower productivity, lower educational attainment, and children’s future outcomes. According to Maxwell (2009), Micro data from the National Population Health Survey found that 73% of Canadians with the highest incomes have reported their health as excellent, while 47% of Canadians with the lowest rated their overall health as

Income inequality in the United States has been on the rise since 1970 (Piketty & Saez 2003). The consequences to high levels of inequality include: economic decay, financial instability, lack of economic mobility, and distrust in political institutions(citations). In theory, these consequences should be impacting Americans attitudes toward income inequality. Americans take pride in being the land of economic opportunity; however, the American dream is at risk with high levels of inequality. A 2013 study, argued that intergenerational mobility is lower with high levels of income inequality, which indicates some families are struggling to advance up the economic ladder (Corak 2013). Furthermore, Americans recognize that economic opportunity

Social determinants of health are social, economic and physical factors that affect the health of individuals in any given population. There are fourteen social determinants of health but Income is perhaps the most important of these because it shapes living conditions, influences health related behaviors, and determines food security. In Canada, people with lower incomes are more susceptible to disease/ conditions, higher mortality rate, decreased life expectancy and poorer perceived health than people with high incomes. In numerous Canadian studies and reports, there has been more emphasis on health being based on an individual’s characteristics, choices and behaviours, rather than the role that income plays as a social determinant of health. Although Canada has one of the highest income economies in the world and is comprised of a free health care system, many low income families are a burden on the system because of the physical and mental health issues influenced by income insecurity. Low income individuals are heavier users of health care services because they have lower levels of health and more health problems than do people with higher incomes. This essay will address income as a social determinant of health in three key sections: what is known on the issue, why the issue is important and how can health and public policies address the issue. The main theme that runs through the essay is the income related health inequalities among low income groups compared to

Canada is regarded as one of the wealthiest industrialized countries in the world. This indication is contrary to the well-being reality affecting Canadians. Despite being part of the Organization for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD), Canada has lagged behind her otherwise wealthy counterparts in the industrialized countries being position 19 out of 22 nations (Breznitz and Zysman, 2013). This has been attributed to the precarious levels of poverty in a majority of Canadian households. The country has not recognized any official poverty measurement although other universal measures such as LICO is used for measuring relative poverty, a more determinable measure of poverty for wealthy countries.

Currently there are many problems and flaws with the way the Canadian government’s policies deal with healthcare, income inequality and poverty. Time to time changes in policies have been made, perhaps to improve these issues, however, the gap between rich and poor keeps increasing and there is very little improvement in healthcare and the economy. In fact, healthcare keeps on becoming costly. Major issues like income inequality and poverty are not being taken care of by the government. According to Dr. Raphael (2002) poverty is caused by several reasons such as inequality in people’s income, weak social services and lack of other social supports (p.VI). He states, “Poverty directly harms the health of those with low incomes while income

This paper discusses the ideas presented by Richard Wilkinson, in the video How economic inequality harms societies (2011). Three compelling concepts arise from the video which are that there was no longer a correlation between gross national income and health and social problems; it is also possible to attain greater equality as evidenced by what some countries are doing to reduce the income gap; and inequalities vary based on their health impact across the social gradient but nonetheless is present from top to bottom. In order to tackle the health problems and improve the health of individuals within societies, social justice actions geared at the inequalities seen in the healthcare system and other institutions are crucial. This paper also

Worldwide, approximately 1.3 billion people do not have access to affordable and efficient healthcare and out of those who have access, almost 170 million are forced to spend around 40 % of their income on medical treatment (Asante et al,2016).In low and middle income countries (LMICs), the major constraint to the access of healthcare is financial burden, where out-of-pocket payments (OPP) contribute to approximately 50 % of total health expenditure (WHO, 2010). As a result, in these countries there is high probability of many households being pushed into poverty due to high medical expenses (McIntyre,2006).The matter of concern in LMICS is that poor and disadvantaged groups of population do not have access to adequate quality of healthcare.For instance, according to WHO (2010) up to 20 % of women in rich population are more likely to have a birth attended by skilled health worker than a poor woman. Therefore, taking an action to address health inequities faced in these countries would save up to 700,000 women.