The Cost of Aging

As the first wave of baby boomers reach retirement age, health care stakeholders are standing up and taking notice of the rising cost of health care expected over the next five years.  The Conference Board of Canada recently released a study, commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association, that reports that it will cost $3.3 billion in the next year to implement a three-step plan to meet the growing health care needs of an aging population.

Over the next five years, that number jumps to $17.5 billion as more aging boomers place a greater strain on the health care system.  Giving extra funding to provinces and territories based on the age of their population is step one of the plan, due to the fact that elderly patients have higher health care costs.

The second phase outlined in the report is to cover the whole cost of medication in households who spend more than 3 per cent of their income on prescriptions.  The report states that nearly one in ten seniors neglect to fill prescriptions due to cost.

Finally the plan looks into making caregiver tax credits refundable which could help off-set caregiver costs in lost wages and out-of-pocket expenses.  According to Statistics Canada, more than eight million Canadians over the age of 15 provide care for a family member of friend. This part of the plan would cost the government $90.8 million in 2016 if implemented and would be expected to grow to $500 million by 2020.

For the full report visit The Conference Board of Canada at:  https://www.cma.ca/Assets/assets-library/document/en/advocacy/conference-board-rep-sept-2015-embargo-en.pdf.