Boomers Won't Break Medicare
Sep 25, 2007
It is a commonly held belief that an aging Canadian population and a concurrent surge in the number of Baby Boomers entering old age will render the medicare system unsustainable.
However, a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) finds that population aging, in and of itself, is a relatively small contributor to rising cost pressures on the Canadian health care system. In How Sustainable Is Medicare?, Marc Lee finds that over the last decade, the impact of an aging population on health care spending has been under one percent. Current projections show that there is little to be concerned about in terms of a demographic crisis in health care.
Of more substantive concern in terms of rising costs for the Canadian health care system are factors such as inflation. Salary increases and higher costs for supplies have been the biggest cost drivers over the last decade, with increases averaging 2.5 percent per year. Furthermore, the expansion of health care services over time (such as with new technologies, home care, long-term care and pharmaceutical drugs) has contributed significantly to costs, as the average Canadian now receives more than one-and-a-half times the health care services as did Canadians 30 years ago. The cost of dying is also very high, as one-third to one-half of a typical individual’s health care costs are incurred in the final year of life.
However, the news remains positive in general. If future economic growth rates remain relatively similar to those of the past 10 years, health care spending as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product will actually fall over the next 50 years.
If Canada continues to dedicate the same proportion of new economic output to health care, we will not only have enough money to pay for existing services (even after inflation, population growth and aging) but there will also be enough for a modest expansion of health care services.
Greater expansion of public health care remains possible in the future, but is dependent on societal willingness to pay more for enhanced and better services, technology and care.
The report can be accessed at the CCPA website: www.policyalternatives.ca.
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I agree.....boomers won't break medicare.....they will just tax the hell out of us young people. I still can't figure out why it's legal for me to spend money wrecking my body, but illegal for me to use my hard earned money for my own health care. Will someone please explain that to me ? I would like some choice.
Pissinginthetent.com - 2007-09-26 20:08