such as homemaking. As such, women are less likely to have private insurance to cover the costs of drugs and healthcare services. The shift from public to private financing has also meant additional labor for women due to families relying on them as caregivers. Less public financing has shifted care to women, leaving "them with more support to provide at home." Women's additional healthcare requirements, such as pregnancy, further exacerbate the gender gap. Despite comprising approximately half of Canada's population, women receive the majority of Canadian healthcare. Men and women also experience different wait times for diagnostic tests; longer wait times have been associated with a higher risk of health complications. One Canadian study reports, "mean wait times are significantly lower for men than for women pertaining to overall diagnostic tests: for MRI, 70.3 days for women compared to 29.1 days for men." Socioeconomic gap in healthcare It has been previously documented that one's socioeconomic status significantly impacts their health. Another recent study re-assessed this relationship and found similar results that demonstrated that people with higher levels of education or income experience longer life expectancies and health-adjusted life expectancies. The study discovered a distinct stepwise gradient in Canada, with life expectancy and health-adjusted life expectancy incrementally increasing as social position improves. They also found that this socioeconomic gap in healthcare had gotten wider in the previous 15 years. The reasoning behind the socioeconomic gap is complex and multifaceted. Certain relationships between socioeconomic status and health outcomes can be relatively easily explained through direct exposures. For example, lead or pollutant exposure tends to be more common in rural neighbourhoods, which can result in lower cognitive functions, stunted growth and exacerbated asthma. Higher income levels allow for the purchase of higher-quality resources, including food products, produce and shelter, as well as faster access to services. Higher education is often thought to lead to greater health literacy, resulting in the adoption of healthier lifestyles. Longer, more complex pathways can also be used to explain potential relationships between socioeconomic status and health outcomes. Duration of poverty has been related to increased chronic stress levels. Recent studies have described how these stress levels can result in the biological "wear-and-tear" for these individuals constantly exposed to social and environmental stressors. Increased stress and lower SES has been correlated with increased blood pressure, worser cholesterol profiles and increased risk for other cardiovascular diseases. Inequality in the LGBT