Joint Canada/US Survey of Health (JCUSH)

Most Canadians and Americans report being in good to excellent health. However, Canadians with the lowest incomes are less likely to be in fair or poor health and are less likely to report severe mobility limitations than their American counterparts. Furthermore, more Americans than Canadians report an unmet health care need.

These are some of the major findings of the Joint Canada/US Survey of Health, a collaboration of HAMG, Health Statistics Division, and the US National Center for Health Statistics. This is the first study to compare health status and access to health care services between the two nations using an identical instrument with the same collection methodology. A sample of 3,500 Canadians and 5,200 Americans were surveyed by telephone by Statistics Canada interviewers in 2003.

Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health, 2002-03, released June 2, 2004, highlights differences within and between the two countries related to health status, health care utilization, and unmet health care needs, for both insured and uninsured individuals and by income level.

See our report Sanmartin C, Ng E, Blackwell D, Gentleman J, Martinez M, Simile C, Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health, 2002-03 at :8096/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=82M0022X.

François Gendron