CMA has opened doors for discussion on Canada's health care system
OTTAWA, Ontario (Canadian Newswire), August 20, 2007: A poll reveals that nearly 50% of Canadians are not confident they will have enough savings to afford their own long-term care. Medicare, created in the sixties would need to be updated to address the realities of health care in the XXIst century.
The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) took a new poll to find out what services were most important to Canadians, their level of worry as to being able to afford various services in the future, and what services should be a priority for governments.
55% were very or somewhat confident they would be able to cover long-term expenses and 43% were not. Most thought long-term care should be the top priority if Medicare were to be expanded, followed by home care, prescription drugs, dental care and vision care.
Canadians were split evenly as to wether the government should cover a portion of catastrophic drug expenses exceeding a certain amount of income, or 70% of all Canadians' prescription drug expenses.
50% said governments should maintain 100% funding of doctor and hospital services and 46% said they should use existing funding to fund 70% of all health care services.
According to Dr. Colin McMillan, the CMA President, in less than 5 years, the first baby boomers will turn 65 and Canada will face a long-term care crunch. Medicare, the health system created in the sixties and focused largely on covering hospital and physician services, needs to adapt and grow to address new realities and meet new challenges.
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