When we look at our global measures of health at birth (birth weight and Apgar scores), there are very few differences across SES.  However, health differences do emerge very early on in a child’s life.  This graph shows the hospitalization rates in the first year of life across the SES groups.  This graph demonstrates a very steep gradient, illustrating that children resident in the lower SES neighborhoods are at much greater risk of developing a health problem serious enough to have them admitted to hospital. In other work we have established that the acuity of admissions among those from low SES neighborhoods is at least as high as among those from high SES neighborhoods. This graph when combined with our previous work on acuity illustrates that the health care system is needs based, delivering care to those who need it most.