ARTICLES  &  REVIEWS

Costly Care

London Free Press

While the vision and picture of retirement is sunny beaches, swinging golf clubs and has been labelled the “golden years” usually, as we age, we can become incapacitated by illness and the care needed can be costly. This is an event for which many of today’s retirees and pre-retirees may not be totally prepared.

 

Retirement can be viewed in three stages. The first stage could be called the “love boat stage” where, from age sixty to seventy-five, people are healthy and active. The second stage can begin when one starts to lose their health, their desire to travel wanes and money is not used so much for travel and fun but starts to become used for home care. The third stage is when a person ends up in long term care. It can be quite expensive but perhaps not terribly unreasonable for a single person, but if one spouse goes into a nursing home and the other spouse still maintains their principal home it can be difficult to maintain both. Rather than only focusing on enough money to retire, one should look at the different stages of retirement and consider the type of care they would envision and what they could afford.

 

Not only do Canadians not want to talk about their retirement needs, but a surprising number of Canadians only used 10 per cent of their total available RSP contribution room. As you know, we are living longer; the average life expectancy has increased and at some point the boomer generation may face problems their grandparents didn’t. We now have the ability to keep frail people alive much longer. Karen Sullivan, Executive Director of Ontario Long Term Care Association, says that 70 per cent of long term care residences in Ontario are over 80 years old and 25 per cent are over 90. 94 per cent of long-term care residents need assistance to eat, 89 per cent are incontinent, 63 per cent suffer from dementia and 44 per cent are unable to find their own rooms.

 

Receiving care at home using outside support services is an alternative but not necessarily a cheaper alternative. Provincial health care plans may provide basic home services such as assistance with bathing and light housework, depending on needs assessment. In some communities, a strong volunteer network helps seniors in their homes. Those who are chronically impaired and wish to remain at home may have to hire caregivers at their own expense. Living to a ripe old age can be expensive.

 

Retirement homes or manors are generally privately run and in Ontario the average price of a private room is about $2,200 per month. Some of these manors provide beautiful facilities with tremendous social access and operate much like a cruise ship without water.

When a person is unable to care for himself or herself, the next step is often long term care or what is commonly known as nursing homes and homes for the aged. Both the Provincial Government and the resident fund long-term care. The resident pays a standard rate and each province is geared to income and not assets. In Ontario the rate is $1,940 per month for a private and $1,600 for semi-private. Those who can’t afford these prices can apply for subsidies in Ontario. For example, the ward rate can run as low as $920. The average stay in a long-term care facility is two to three years. So in Ontario, three years in a private room will cost about $70,000 not including clothing, dental, hair and podiatry care.

 

Necessity may govern what happens in the later stages of life. No one will be turned away from the health care system but as people become more dependent on that system the quality of care will become the important issue. It’s hard to know what user fees will be like in decades to come. Will they find a cure for Alzheimer’s? What will home care be like?

Today, you have to pay out of your own pocket to have more privacy. In Ontario a private room is $313 more than a semi-private room. To have privacy can make a big difference in the resident’s quality of life. In the years to come, the extras may involve many other things as Canada’s demanding baby boomers settle into retirement.