Among the variables included in this study, lifestyle variables have not received as much attention in the past. Thus even though smoking status as well as alcohol consumption have been used in classification models (Chae et al., 2001; King & Mossialos, 2005) before, they have not been among the important variables, sometimes even being non-significant in the multivariate models built. However, two of these variables, binge drinking and smoking status, were found to be within the ten most important variables in this study, suggesting a need to further examine this type of variable and its relationship to healthcare coverage, even though all lifestyle variables were not found to be important. It is important to under- stand that even though certain variables may not be important when the contribution of other variables like income, education and employment is considered, they may be significant in understanding the disparity issue in greater detail.