Access to Healthcare Not Easy For Low-Income Women in Halifax
Matthew Sheriko, Experience Congress 2011
Better jobs, better pay, and increased access to education in Atlantic Canada will help low-income women to better access healthcare says York University PhD candidate, Monnah Green.
Her research into the access of health care services for low income women was based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
She found women have less trouble accessing a doctor but more trouble finding ways to secure full health care coverage.
Green calls for more research based in Atlantic Canada into provincial healthcare systems to help curb the inequalities in accessing services.
“If they continue to leave out Atlantic Canada of the [policy] research, we’re going to continue to be marginalized from mainstream Canadian society, particularly in healthcare,” Green said in her Women’s Studies presentation.
She cited research identifying that there’s a higher percentage of low-income women in Atlantic Canada than other regions of the country.
In addition, she cites higher rates of unemployment and low wages coupled with high rates of smoking, obesity, and other health concerns, as contributing factors to problems in accessing healthcare in Atlantic Canada.
“This is the way it is and there’s nothing I can do about it.” That’s the general sentiment she found among these women in their difficulty accessing the full range of healthcare services.
