By Neale Towart Mutual obligation for the poor only, increasing income inequality and a widening health gap.
Recent research shows that the health gap in Australia has widened in the past two decades.
This gap is between high and low income earners, where research also shows an increase in inequality. With mutual obligation for social security recipients becoming a clarion call from government and commentators, the pressures on low-income earners is increasing, and their income levels and health status look like declining. She emphasises the methodological difficulties involved and questions the traditional approaches to analysing this question used by health economists. She asks if the gap has widened and if the gap reflects shifts in income inequality. The gap is related to relative income levels, not absolute income levels and can be observed in developing countries as well as in developed countries such as Australia.