The spiral of debt and illness

Can being in debt make you sick? Conversely, are we more in debt when we are sick?

The Quebec Observatory of Inequalities looked at the link between health – and illness – and debt in a note published this Wednesday. Their diagnosis, in five key points.

Unequal in front of debts

Already, in the introduction, the authors of this analysis reaffirm that debts are vectors of inequality: they benefit a part of the population who uses them to carry out promising projects – such as buying a house or pursuing higher education – and impoverish the others. , who no longer make ends meet, explain Geoffroy Boucher and Sandy Torres.

We also know that the lower a family’s income, the greater the proportion of consumer debt in overall debt. The proportion reverses as income increases, with the wealthy having mainly mortgage debts, linked to an asset, and little consumer debt, proportionally speaking.

More in debt, in worse shape

“Debt can really have a negative impact on health,” says economist Geoffroy Boucher, who specifies that it can have an effect on blood pressure and obesity, in particular.

It is the stress caused by debt that causes other physical and psychological health problems among some borrowers, cites the report, which is based on external studies.

“The more people have difficulty repaying their debts, the higher their level of stress will be,” specifies the economist. And the more it will have negative impacts on their health. We see that this incidence is particularly strong among less fortunate people. »

Particularly harmful compensatory debts

People who use “compensatory” credit also consider themselves to be in worse health than the population average.

“They go into debt to compensate for a lack of income and meet their basic needs,” specifies the author of the study.

In fact, 25% of people who fell into debt in these circumstances believe that their health is fair or poor. The gap is significant with people who do not have to borrow to pay for their current expenses, since 11% in this case describe their health as fair or poor.

The disease that leads to debt

If debt can lead to health problems, the opposite would also be true, since 11% of Quebecers who contracted a debt did so because they originally had a health problem, according to data of 2022.

“No one is safe from the disease, but what we see is that less fortunate people really suffer more of the economic consequences of the disease,” explains Geoffroy Boucher. Proportionately speaking, low-income people are four times more likely to go into debt for health problems than those at the top of the income distribution. »

Almost 40% of people who took on debt because they had a health problem also have high levels of stress. If you have debt, but it was not caused by health concerns, your stress level would hover more around 9%.

Geoffroy Boucher specifies that these data are surprising for Quebec, which has a universal health system. “We realize,” he said, “that this system is not completely universal. »

“A whole series of personal situations arise from health problems,” adds the economist. Loss of job, loss of income. All this creates a spiral of difficulties which generates stress. And stress, in turn, negatively affects health. The situation can escalate quite quickly. »

Different borrowers

The study is based on several surveys, including that of the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS) on household debt published in 2022 and which traced certain debt profiles. We learned that people whose debt is linked to education or who have a mortgage have less difficulty making their repayments than others.

Unsurprisingly, people who have used credit to cope with job loss or illness have more difficulty meeting repayments.

In carrying out this research, the Observatory was interested in the link between heritage and social inequalities. He worked extensively with data from the INRS 2022 Quebec Household Debt Survey, conducted by Maude Pugliese, holder of the Canada Research Chair on the financial experiences of families and wealth inequalities.