The ageing population in Canada will comprise a major portion of the population in the next couple of years, putting an enormous strain on the economy and health care system. This essay will address the theme of deinstitutionalization and how it relates to the elderly population in Canada. Canada is a country that is demographically diverse and consists of differentiating cultural perspectives and therefore long term care services cannot be limited to one practice. The long term care services that are available in Canada are mostly intuitionally based which requires an enormous amount of health care funds. Over the years public policy has stressed the importance of shifting long term care from an institutionally system to community based care.
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The first question is should long term care services be mostly publicly funded by the government, bringing this part of the health care system closer to the concept of universal coverage. The second question’s is how can the government fund long term care in way a that is efficient and cost – effective. Currently long term care services in Canada are subsidized and the amount of subsidy an individual’s receives is determined by their declared income. This policy is cost effective because the government does not have to distribute a large amount of funds to individuals who have high incomes. So therefore more funds can be allocating to other health care sectors. Also subsidizing long term care helps to maintain tax rates, so the burden of paying for long term services is not entirely put on tax payers. The weakness of this policy is that it does not follow the concept of a universally funded system and it’s unfair because not everyone is receiving the same amount of subsidy. One policy improvement option is to make long term care universally funded which will simplify the administrative process and spread the burden of paying for long term care among all tax payers. The government is also looking to preserve more health care funds and some policy makers suggest that the eligibility criteria for subsidy should be stricter. The government for example could offer subsidy to …show more content…
Canada offers a wide variety of home services and this means that every elderly patient can receive the specific form of care that they require. Also some provinces and territories provided free of charge home care to eligible individuals, and this creates equality because anyone has the option of receiving home care services regardless of their circumstances. The issue is home care services do not provide twenty-four hour care, and so caregivers have to provide a majority of the care to their elderly relative. Also the non-refundable tax that caregivers can claim only benefits them if they are receiving income. Most caregivers are not working due to the fact that balancing a job and being a full time care giver is humanely impossible. So therefore the non-refundable tax has no benefit to a caregiver in that situation. The government has to implement better programs and incentives that benefits caregivers. Indeed home care services do require the help of family members and this can strengthens the dynamics of a family but can also cause a lot of stress for a family
The first question is should long term care services be mostly publicly funded by the government, bringing this part of the health care system closer to the concept of universal coverage. The second question’s is how can the government fund long term care in way a that is efficient and cost – effective. Currently long term care services in Canada are subsidized and the amount of subsidy an individual’s receives is determined by their declared income. This policy is cost effective because the government does not have to distribute a large amount of funds to individuals who have high incomes. So therefore more funds can be allocating to other health care sectors. Also subsidizing long term care helps to maintain tax rates, so the burden of paying for long term services is not entirely put on tax payers. The weakness of this policy is that it does not follow the concept of a universally funded system and it’s unfair because not everyone is receiving the same amount of subsidy. One policy improvement option is to make long term care universally funded which will simplify the administrative process and spread the burden of paying for long term care among all tax payers. The government is also looking to preserve more health care funds and some policy makers suggest that the eligibility criteria for subsidy should be stricter. The government for example could offer subsidy to …show more content…
Canada offers a wide variety of home services and this means that every elderly patient can receive the specific form of care that they require. Also some provinces and territories provided free of charge home care to eligible individuals, and this creates equality because anyone has the option of receiving home care services regardless of their circumstances. The issue is home care services do not provide twenty-four hour care, and so caregivers have to provide a majority of the care to their elderly relative. Also the non-refundable tax that caregivers can claim only benefits them if they are receiving income. Most caregivers are not working due to the fact that balancing a job and being a full time care giver is humanely impossible. So therefore the non-refundable tax has no benefit to a caregiver in that situation. The government has to implement better programs and incentives that benefits caregivers. Indeed home care services do require the help of family members and this can strengthens the dynamics of a family but can also cause a lot of stress for a family