Disparities in Health and Access to Health Care among Official-Language Minorities in Québec

James Falconer, McGill University
Amélie Quesnel-Vallée, McGill University

This study estimates the effect of French language ability on self-reported health and unmet healthcare needs in Québec using a multiple logistic regression design. We find that unilingual Québec Anglophones are 26% more likely than bilinguals to report poor health. Worse health is expected to compel greater use of health care based on theory and evidence from multiple comparative contexts. However, despite their poor health status, unilingual Anglophones are 52% more likely to report unmet health care needs. These disparities in health status and health care access are explained by differences in French language ability, robust to demographic and socioeconomic controls. The findings suggest that policies to reduce barriers to health care access among unilingual Québec Anglophones can have substantial health benefits.