Income and education are the top determinants in both the health and health spending of Bermuda’s residents.The Health Disparities Report 2013, released yesterday by the Bermuda Health Council, shows the extent to which social and economic forces affect health. For instance, low-income households spend 20 percent of their overall earnings on healthcare versus just three percent for those in the top income bracket.The report’s findings mirror those of other countries and will prove useful in guiding policy development, BHeC CEO Jennifer Attride-Stirling said.“The findings show that low income and education are more significant determinants of poor health than any other demographic characteristics, like gender and race,” she said.The gaps in healthcare were drawn from the 2011 Adult Health Survey and the 2012 Household Health Expenditure Survey. Michelle Ye, a health economist for the BHeC, said the consensus from the report was that inequalities revolved around primarily socio-economic factors.The Health Disparities Report 2013, shows that 25 percent of low-income households — earning below $60,000 a year — have uninsured residents versus ten percent in households bringing in more than $108,000 a year. Although lower-earning residents are less healthy, 34 percent of them reported spending nothing out-of-pocket on medical services during the month before they were surveyed.Higher-income and better-educated residents smoke less and show better health overall, but they are more likely to binge drink.Those of higher education showed a greater incidence of driving drunk, as well.Overall, some 68 percent of adult Bermudians were determined to be overweight or obese, according to body mass index calculations.However, just 45 percent reported described themselves as overweight.Race was found to have a more pronounced effect on health-related behaviours: black respondents “ate the least amount of vegetables, and were most likely to have been tested for HIV”, the report said.Overall, roughly half of adults in Bermuda said they had been tested for HIV.Bermuda’s rate of road crashes was also “significantly higher” than other comparable countries. Eight percent of those surveyed had been involved in a crash over the previous year, and one in five adults had driven while drunk — or been the passenger of a drunk driver — during the previous 30 days.Useful website: www.bhec.bm.