Study: Food Insecurity Has High Costs for Ontario’s Health Care System
Posted: September 11, 2015
Categories: Events / Food in the News / GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Members / Research / Webinars
A recent study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal has shown a correlation between income-related barriers to food and annual health-care costs in Ontario. This important research helps quantify the impact of inequitable access to healthy food in Canada’s food systems. Kristy Hoffman reported on the study for the Globe and Mail.
Based on a sample of 67,000 adults, the study, led by Dr. Valerie Tarasuk of the University of Toronto’s Department of Nutritional Sciences, compared results from five years’ worth of Statistics Canada’s Canadian Community Health Survey with Ontario health-insurance data stored in the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.
The findings are significant and surprised even the researchers: “I think everybody’s surprised; I think that’s why we’re being published,” Dr. Tarasuk told The Globe and Mail.
The study approximates that 3.9 per cent of the sample are marginally food insecure, costing Canada’s health-care system 23 per cent more than members of food-secure homes per year. Health-care costs increase as food insecurity increases: approximately 3% of Ontario adults in extreme food insecurity cost 121% more to Canadian health-care system than food secure Canadians. The calculations take into account the costs of prescription drugs covered by social assistance, emergency department visits, physician visits, day surgeries, and home care.
This study’s findings emphasize an increasingly prevalent message: charities and foodbanks cannot be relied on as the only solution to the rising levels of food insecurity across the country. Dr. Tarasuk suggests the implementation of a guaranteed annual income floor as a better way to tackle the issue.
Dr. Valerie Tarasuk will be speaking about this research on an upcoming webinar hosted by Dietitians of Canada.
Webinar: Why food insecurity is a federal election issue
Date: September 22, 12pm-1pm
Cost: Free to attend.
One of the election priorities identified by Dietitians of Canada for the 2015 Federal Election is for the parties to develop and implement a national strategy to reduce food insecurity. Go to www.dietitians.ca/federalelection for details.
This free webinar will provide the rationale for this federal election ‘ask’ from dietitians – and you will hear what the leaders said in response to questions from Dietitians of Canada.
Click here for more details and registration.