Health Profiles of Non-Institutionalized Senior Citizens in the U.S. and Canada: Findings from the Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health

Eve Powell-Griner, National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), CDC
Debra L. Blackwell, National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), CDC

Previous research has shown that Canadians are more likely to receive medical services and have higher hospital utilization rates than their United States counterparts, who are more likely to receive specialist care. In addition, health care contacts are higher in Canada than in the United States. However, much of this earlier research was limited to comparisons of regional/provincial data, which are not nationally representative. We use the Joint Canada/U.S. Survey of Health (JCUSH) to examine access to care, health status, and disability among non-institutionalized senior citizens in the United States and Canada (i.e., persons 65 years of age and older who live in private dwellings). Unlike previous data, the JCUSH are fully comparable data, in that the same instrument was used for interviewing both Canadian and U.S. respondents. Furthermore, when appropriately weighted, the Joint Survey data are representative of the populations of both countries.