Canada News Wire
News release
Canada’s health care system is confronted with a growing and aging population with more complex and chronic health care needs.
When our public health system was created about 50 years ago, Canada’s population was just over 20 million and the average life expectancy was 71.
Today, our population is over 30 million and the average life expectancy is 10 years longer. According to Statistics Canada, for the first time in our nation’s history there are now more people aged 65 and older than there are children under 14.
Relying on acute care hospitals to care for our aging population is an ineffective use of health care dollars, and is not sustainable. The demands on our system will simply become too great, and such an approach will fail both our aging population and the remainder of Canadians who must access the health care system in a timely fashion.
The CMA believes that the federal government should invest in seniors’ care, guided by a pan-Canadian seniors’ strategy. Such a strategy will contribute to the renewal of the entire health system and improve the productivity of health care delivery across the country.