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There is more than 30 years of research on relationships between income inequality and population health. In this article, we propose a research agenda with five recommendations for future research to refine existing knowledge and examine new questions. First, we recommend that future research prioritise analyses with broader time horizons, exploring multiple temporal aspects of the relationship. Second, we recommend expanding research on the effect of public expenditures on the inequality–health relationship. Third, we introduce a new area of inquiry focused on interactions between social mobility, income inequality and population health. Fourth, we argue the need to examine new perspectives on 21st century capitalism, specifically the population health impacts of inequality in income from capital (especially housing), in contrast to inequality in income from labour. Finally, we propose that this research broaden beyond all-cause mortality, to cause-specific mortality, avoidable mortality and subcategories thereof. We believe that such a research agenda is important for policy to respond to the changes following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Canadian household prescription drug expenditures are studied using the Statistics Canada Family Expenditure Survey masterfiles for periods that include the introduction of provincial `general population' prescription drug programs. Budget shares for non-senior households are examined over time using non-parametric regression, parametric `difference-in-difference' techniques, and quantile regression methods. The evidence suggests that while program effects are muted when there are high deductibles, a non-senior prescription drug subsidy is more redistributive than an equal-cost proportional income transfer, in part because of differential private health insurance coverage by income. This is in contrast to previous evidence on Canadian senior prescription drug subsidies.