Canada Needs a National Healthcare Strategy
Canadians consistently put healthcare at the top of the list of issues that are most important to them. 83% of Canadians believe that the federal government needs to take a leadership role in health care, and 80% of Canadians want a stronger healthcare system. In spite of this, Canada has no national healthcare strategy.
Lester B. Pearson and Tommy Douglas collaborated to develop a world class universal healthcare system in which all Canadians, regardless of their status, could receive treatment. At that time funding for the system was split 50/50 between the federal and provincial governments. Close to fifty years have passed, and much has changed. The federal government’s share of the cost is now less than half of what it was.
Changing demographics are putting new strains onto our health care system. Between 74 and 90 per cent of Canada’s seniors suffer from at least one chronic condition, while nearly one quarter have two or more. Chronic diseases cost the Canadian economy $190 billion each year and consume 67 per cent of all direct health-care costs. On any given day in Canada, “alternative level of care” patients, patients approved for hospital discharge who cannot access appropriate post-hospital care, occupy about 7,500 beds.
In Thunder Bay’s acute care center patients are being piled almost on top of each other in hallways because of a lack of beds. The same story can be heard in hospitals across the country. Canada is the only country in the G20 without a national healthcare strategy, and Canadians are feeling the effects.
Shortages in long-term care options leave many Canadians with chronic illnesses in acute care hospital beds. The treatment that they receive there is more expensive, less effective, and takes up room in emergency care facilities from those who need it. In order to better treat chronic illnesses we need to build a national healthcare strategy with a focus on investment in prevention, long-term care, home care, and palliative care.
Long Term Care
Data from the Canadian Institute of Health Information indicates that Canadians 65 and older make up only 14% of our population but use 40% of our hospitals’ capacities. With the number of seniors expected to double by 2036, Canada must re-think its approach to healthy aging and seniors care to meet the growing demand for health-care services.
Currently there is a huge shortage in long-term care facilities in Canada. As our population gets older, demand is only going to grow. Some provincial governments have recognized the need for these facilities. The federal government needs to step up to the plate and join them.
Home Care
Many seniors wish to remain in their homes and with their loved ones as long as possible. 96% of Canadians support public policy changes that would allow seniors to age in the home while receiving effective, home-based care.
The more than 13 million people providing care for others who have age-related needs now contribute an estimated $5 billion in unpaid labour each year. Clearly, Canadians need more support to continue giving support.
Aging at home makes sense for families, seniors, and the government. Home care is over three times less expensive than the cost of a long-term care bed, and over twenty times less expensive than an acute care hospital bed.
Palliative Care
Right now, only 16-30% of terminally ill Canadians receive palliative care, and Canadians often pay 25% of the costs associated with palliative care out of their own pockets. The average person generates $14,000 in health-care costs during the last 30 days of his or her life, often receiving heroic high-te h hospital treatment that may only make their passing more difficult.
Almost $5 billion a year is spent in Ontario alone on the care of people in their last year – about 10 per cent of the overall health budget. Close to half that expense stems from admission to acute-care hospitals, despite widespread agreement that many patients should get palliative or home care in their final days.
A national healthcare strategy will help us develop a comprehensive approach to home and community-based care including giving Canadians access to equitable levels of care, optimizing the use of technologies, and supporting family and friend caregivers. It’s time for the federal government to reassume our leadership position and restore the state of Canadian healthcare.
