RSSIndependent Living
Long-Term Care
No families should be forced to place a loved one in a facility due to lack of home care
funding. Canada already tops the list when it comes to the percentage of seniors in long
term care facilities The lack of funding also forces caregivers to cut back on paid work to
care, resulting in reduced financial well-being later in life. Added to this is the fact that
there is no direct compensation for family caregivers to help them provide badly needed
care.–Karen Henderson, Long-Term Care Planning Central
Canadians have been quietly caring for their elderly for hundreds of years. Suddenly, however,
it seems that long term care has worked its way from obscurity into the national limelight.
If you consider the state of the country, the reasons are obvious.
Canada’s population is aging rapidly.
According to a Statistics Canada 2007 census report:
o One in seven Canadians is a senior
o The over-80 crowd is the second-fastest growing group, increasing by more than 25
per cent to 1.2 million over five years
o Within a decade, seniors could outnumber children younger than 15
• By 2031, over 750,000 Canadians will have Alzheimer’s Disease or a related dementia.
Over 52 per cent of Canadians know someone with Alzheimer’s and almost 25 per cent
have someone affected in their family
The Problem
• Family caregivers are beginning to understand that caring today does not last for a few
weeks or months as it did in the ‘old days’ – it can now last up to twenty years or more,
completely disrupting one’s personal, work and financial life.
There is an undeniable financial burden involved in long term care. No matter where care is
provided – in the home or in an institution – families invariably end up paying for products and
services out of their own pockets. Many caregivers report they have had to cut back on
their personal budgets, use up their savings or borrow money to meet their caregiving financial
obligations.
Don’t put Long-Term Care Planning on the back burner. If you plan for long-term care needs early, you can avoid the financial burden. Long-term care insurance will ensure that you will not wipe out your savings and maintain your standard of living. Consider it “Peace of Mind Insurance”.
The greatest gift a parent can give an adult child is tell her what care he does and does not want at the end of life!
Talk to your financial advisors about what you want as you age. Together we will come up
with a plan to ensure you have the financial and social resources to care for yourself till
the end of life