Thank you, Mr. Chair, and committee members, for the opportunity to participate in your pre-budget hearings. I've been asked to appear on the topic of helping the vulnerable.
The CMA believes there are many groups that are vulnerable in Canadian society, but it is particularly timely to focus on health care for seniors. This is because our health care system simply isn't ready for the challenge of an aging population.
I regret to say that preparing for our aging society is becoming a race against the clock. The first wave of baby boomers turned 67 this year. By 2031, seniors will account for one-quarter of the population, nearly double the 14% in 2009, and at that time that 14% already accounted for 45% of provincial and territorial health expenditures.
It's not hard to do the math on what this trend will do to the sustainability of our health care system in less than two decades, and it is not hard to understand why the CMA is strongly urging the federal government to invest in a pan-Canadian strategy for continuing care focused on seniors. We believe Ottawa is best positioned to bring together all levels of government to develop and execute such a pan-Canadian strategy to integrate everything from home care and long-term care to end-of-life and palliative care. This is about spending smarter as much as it is about investment.
Currently there is an unofficial policy of keeping seniors in acute-care hospital beds when they should be either in home care or long-term care. In Canada we call this limbo status alternate level of care, or ALC. That's essentially code for not knowing where to put them, or not having a place. Currently this status accounts for roughly three million ALC bed days a year.
Now, when you think that a hospital bed costs $842 a day to fill versus $126 for a long-term care bed, moving ALC patients from hospital beds to long-term care facilities would save at least $2.3 billion a year.
This is what spending smarter looks like, but we need investment up front to get rid of the shortage of long-term care beds and home care assistance to make savings like that achievable. It's very important for long-term care facilities to qualify for infrastructure funding to address something that is undermining the efficiency of the Canadian health care system. Of course, investment like this would prepare us for what many have called the tsunami of coming demand for seniors care in the future.
The CMA released a public opinion poll in August which found that nine out of ten Canadians believe we need a pan-Canadian strategy for seniors care, and that an equal number believe that a seniors strategy, by providing alternatives to hospital beds, would improve the overall health care system.
We believe there is public acceptance out there for some bold innovations by public policy-makers.
On that note, I look forward to answering your questions on how we can make the health system better.
Thank you very much.