Nativity Status and Access to Care in Canada and the U.S.: Factoring in the Roles of Race/Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status

Abstract

We conducted cross-country comparisons of Canada and the U.S., and assessed the extent to which access to care varies by nativity status overall, as well as in conjunction with race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Data came from the Joint Canada-U.S. Survey of Health (n=6,620 non-elderly adults). Access measures included having a regular medical doctor, consultation with a health professional in the past year, dentist visit in the past year, Pap test in the past three years, and any unmet health care needs in the past year. Logistic regression was employed to estimate the relative odds of access to care, adjusting for potential confounders. Disparities in access to care based on nativity status overall, as well as nativity-by-race joint effects, were found in both countries. There was also a dose-response effect of education on access to care among the native-born but not among the foreign-born; there were few nativity-by-income joint effects.