Can Money Buy Health?

Is there a relationship between income levels and health?

Can Money Buy Health? Is there a relationship between income levels and health?

Analysis of self-assessed health rates (2014-15) and household incomes (2016) for all local government areas (LGAs) in Australia, suggests a strong correlation between the level of household income and the proportion of population rating their own health as being ‘good’, ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ (GVGE) .

The overwhelming majority of Australians surveyed assessed their own health as GVGE, with all LGA outcomes reported above 75%. Areas with higher incomes recorded higher levels of self-assessed health. Whereas, households with lower self-assessed health also ranked amongst the lowest with respect to household income.

Analysis of the detailed results suggest that an additional $20,000 per annum in household income results in an approximate 2.0 percentage point lift in GVGE outcomes (e.g. the difference between an outcome of 80.0% and an outcome of 82.0%).

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