Wellesley Institute

Wellesley Institute works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the GTA through action on the social determinants of health.

Home Publications Who Benefits? Gaps in Medication Coverage for Ontario Workers

Rebecca Cheff, Malaika Hill and James Iveniuk

Who Benefits? Gaps in Medication Coverage for Ontario Workers

Access to prescription medication often depends on where and how you work, rather than your need. Using the data from the Canadian Community Health Survey, we examined the size of the benefit gap between part-time and full-time workers and explored how disparities are greater for some workers in Ontario.

We found that those who work part-time are less likely to have access to prescription medication and that this disproportionately impacts newcomers, younger workers and racialized individuals. To achieve good health, all Ontarians need access to prescription medications without financial barriers and regardless of hours of work. This report highlights how our current patchwork approach to drug coverage is leaving workers behind.

Read below.

Who Benefits? Gaps in Medication Coverage for Ontario Workers

Download Who Benefits? Gaps in Medication Coverage for Ontario Workers

Acknowledgement of Traditional Land

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

Revised by the Ceremonial Committee at the University of Toronto Office of Indigenous Initiatives in April 2021.