A new open letter to Canada’s healthcare observers, penned by the Stauffer-Dunning fellow at Queen’s University and fellow-in-residence with the C.D. Howe Institute, Don Drummond, and public policy master’s candidate at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, David Jones discuss the coming publicly funded long-term care costs. They say long-term care (LTC) insurance is helpful, but they add that more moves are needed today on the part of those developing public policy, in order to meet the coming challenge.
“How will support and funding be managed to meet the doubling over the next 20 years of the number of Canadians 75 years of age and older? That is an increase of more than three million older seniors,” the pair writes in a letter published by the C.D. Howe Institute.
They add that publicly funded LTC costs are expected to more than triple over the next 30 years. They say an insurance model could help to cover costs, but the note anticipates complications, namely those related to eligibility, what services are covered and what to do about those who will soon be 75 or older without having had the opportunity to contribute. “A new plan could cross subsidize them, but that would be yet another intergenerational transfer onto the shoulders of the young, already heavily burdened by public debt and climate change.”
Among the “quick and practical options” they say could be used while a new insurance model is developed, they point to a number of outdated government pension rules that discourage older citizens from saving, saying these could be overhauled. “Seniors should not have to draw down their registered retirement savings as of age 71, as they may need this money for many years thereafter.”
