Poverty a predictor of health

Basic income would help restore crumbling P.E.I. health-care system

Editor's note: This is the second of a series of five commentaries authored by members of the Working Group for a Livable Income. The first article, “A BIG 2024 breakthrough is possible,” was published Jan. 31.

P.E.I.'S health-care system is crumbling, the number of unhoused people is growing rapidly and one in four islanders who are low-income are children.

It is clear that we need significant changes in our broader social system. We need change that supports better health outcomes for all of us and addresses the No. 1 contributor to poor health: poverty. Guaranteed basic income is the most effective way to eliminate poverty and is the type of change we need to reverse inequalities in our communities.

In simpler words, and to quote a friend, “How do we fix our health-care system? Have healthier people.” To take this answer further, “How do we have healthier people? Tackle poverty.”

BARRIERS TO WELLNESS

I am a member of the Working Group for a Livable Income — a group that has advocated for a guaranteed basic income for decades — and a health-care professional who has worked within the current system for over 30 years.

Early in my career as a psychologist I worked in an inpatient psychiatric unit for adolescents. The team of experts who treated them on a daily basis was extensive and expensive. Very quickly I realized that the vast majority — more than 80 per cent — of the youth receiving this expensive inpatient health care had experienced significant barriers to wellness early in their lives: poverty, food insecurity, discrimination due to race or gender identity, abuse, family violence.

Indeed, I often tell my psychology students that in the over 30 years of practice, the majority of my clients would not have had to seek mental health services if their basic needs, or their family‘s basic needs, had been met earlier in their lives.

QUALITY OF LIFE

The research on the relationship between poverty and poor health outcomes supports my decades of observation: poverty is the strongest predictor of poor mental and physical health.

Further, it demonstrates that if poverty disappears the health effects of living in poverty will also disappear. A basic income guarantee (BIG) is the opportunity that will eliminate poverty and increase mental and physical well-being for those who otherwise would be facing poverty. As well, having basic needs met actually protects health and increases the overall quality of life.

Not only does this make logical sense, it makes economic sense as the health-care costs related to poverty-induced ill health will be vastly reduced as will hospitalizations, and the overwhelming demand on our emergency departments, clinic visits, and outpatient care related to mental and physical health.

Without adequate investments in the health and well-being of all Islanders the demand on our health-care system will not decrease.

INVEST IN HEALTH

Without adequate investments in the health and well-being of all Islanders the demand on our health-care system will not decrease. P.E.I. currently has the worst access to health care in Canada and a program such as basic income guarantee could reverse that trend in the short, medium and long term.

If we have an opportunity to reduce the stress on our healthcare system and at the same time improve the health outcomes and quality of life for the 40 per cent of people living below the poverty line in P.E.I. — would we not take it? By implementing a BIG demonstration program, P.E.I. has the opportunity to show the way forward to improving the health of all people living on the island.

I think we’d agree that this is a good and just idea.