You're absolutely right. We get complaints from our members all the time on that very issue. Their concern--whether warranted or not, and here's the evidence issue--is that they feel not well treated within the health care system. Already there's a lot of confusion and mystery, and then they think they're not getting the best treatment because they're too old. We've had people say that to us. We have people writing in on that. When you hear the language heads of hospitals and other agencies use in some public pronouncements, they do give you the sense that after a certain age, you're not going to get the best care. We would like to believe that's not the case, but we need it to be proven.
You will find that the efforts now on offer to try to reduce hospital budgets and so on bring situations that are really quite miserable for people. One example is in the alternate level of care. You hear the phrase “bed blockers”. What do you suppose that means? It refers to a person who has fallen, has broken their hip or has had a stroke, and is assessed as not being able to live at home independently. It's not appropriate that they be in an acute-care bed, but that's where they are. They don't have access to long-term care. It could be an issue of language or culture. It could be an issue of cost. It could be an issue of location. But whatever the reason, they are still there. So the hospitals are turning themselves inside out to find a way to get rid of them, not to help them find a place where they're going to rehabilitated or taken care of or find proper home care services or someone to manage their care or anything like that. No, it's to get them out of those beds. It's the attitude rather than the effort. So we do worry about that very thing.