With legions of silver-haired baby boomers moving into their golden years old and young Canadians alike are worrying about the expected strain on the country's health care system. That's according to a Canadian Medical Association survey that was released in August of 2010.
The survey found that 80% of Canadians worry the country's health care system will have problems with record numbers of elderly people. It's being called the 'silver tsunami' and it's also an issue for the U.S. and other countries. The baby boomer term came principally from the upsurge in the birth rate after W.W. 2 but there's also a cultural element to the term.
Baby boomers are starting to hit 65 and the numbers are going to increase yearly for some time. The auditor general for B.C., John Doyle, who doesn't feel B.C. is ready, released a report recently that said that in that province by 2031 25% of the population will be over 65, up from 15% in 2006. In addition to more numbers seniors will be living longer and may require care for a greater duration of time.
Canadians Happy with Health Care System but Preparing for Decline
The survey results said that 75% of Canadians gave either an 'A' or a 'B' to the Canadian health care system but that 51% said that they think health care will get worse in the next two to three years. Canadians may feel that baby boomers are soon to begin eating up health dollars.
“What becomes really evident from this poll is the fact that people are concerned about the strain that will happen because of the demographic bulge over the next 10 to 25 years,” CMA president Dr. Anne Doig told the National Post in an interview since the survey was released.
There were 3,483 Canadians surveyed in the Ipsos Reid poll and results say they feel more money will be needed to maintain present levels of health care; however only 22% said they were willing to face higher taxes to manage it. Fully 73% feel they won't have enough money for themselves as they age.
No Reason to Panic About Health Care
However a Vancouver-based gerontologist who sits on the World Health Organization's panel on aging and health, Gloria Gutman, told the Edmonton Sun Monday, August 30 that people are worrying more than they need. “They’re way off base,” Gutman said about Canadians who are concerned about health care the number of elderly. “Not everybody’s going to fall apart."
She says there will be advances in medicine making for quicker, cheaper treatments including, Gutman feels, treatments that will stop dementia. She also says there will be less seniors needing to go to long-term care facilities and ones that do go will go later in life. Why? Because overall the health of seniors is improving and they are staying active longer.
“If we can get the right messages to the right people so that they’ll take more responsibility for their own health, then they should be able to go into old age being healthier," Gutman says.
And that in turn,she says, will lead to less stress on our health care system.
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