Determinants of health go beyond the health care system

Many Canadians have long celebrated the fact that everyone in Canada has access to free health care. The Canadian government is one of the world’s biggest spenders, proportionally, on national health care programs. But is all the spending making a difference? Is covering health care sufficient for the health and well being of all Canadians?

A new report issued from York University by Juha Mikkonen and Dennis Raphael, Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts, shows that health and well being is determined by many social factors, not just the health care system itself.The report shows that the circumstances in which people live play a significant role in their health and well being.

According to Mikkonen and Raphael, some of the major social determinants of health include income distribution, education, job security and unemployment, food security, early childhood development, housing, health care, gender, ethnicity and disability. Health care is among the determinants, but by no means the only factor, or even the most important.

We can have the best health care system in the world, but just treating conditions, and not addressing the roots of health problems will only perpetuate problems. “What good does it do to treat people’s illnesses, to then send them back to the conditions that made them sick?” asks Monique Bégin, former Federal Minister of Health and Welfare.

This report sends a strong message to the federal government. Unless efforts are made to repair the social safety net and government services, overall health and well being will not improve. This speaks to the importance of addressing the need to promote dignity for all Canadians.

This also speaks to the costs of not addressing flawed and insufficient social programs. If programs like social assistance and Employment Insurance do not provide enough funding for people to rise out of poverty, the cycle of poverty will continue and money will continue to be poured into the health care system without lasting effects.

To start to address these problems, Mikkonen and Raphael came up with three recommendations. First, minimum wages and social assistance rates must be raised to compensate for the costs of living, particularly the cost of an adequate and healthy diet. Second, the government needs to ensure that healthy foods like milk, fruit and vegetables are affordable. Finally, affordable housing and childcare must be accessible, so families can have adequate money for healthy eating and living.

Maintaining our health care system is important, but so is addressing the root problems that lead to so many health issues in the first place.