Physicians urge Ottawa to pay another $21B over decade for seniors health care
OTTAWA — Physicians are calling on the federal government to shell out another $21 billion over the next decade to help provinces and territories pay for soaring health care costs that will be propelled by the unavoidable growth of Canada’s seniors population.
A new analysis, to be released Tuesday by the Canadian Medical Association, is urging Ottawa to provide bigger and bigger annual top-ups to the existing federal health care transfer program.
The pressure is mounting on provinces and territories, which will see their health costs soar by another $93 billion over the next 10 years — or about 1.8 per cent of their governments’ spending — due to aging demographics, warns the study. The document was prepared on behalf of the CMA by The Conference Board of Canada.
“Our health care system was designed at a time when the median age in Canada was 27. Today, it’s 40 and our system is not coping well,” Laurent Marcoux, president of the CMA, said in a statement.