Mr. Chairman, it is good to see you in the chair and wonderful to have you out tonight. I also want to recognize my hon. colleague from across the way. I think she delivered a very significant set of comments.
I want to address my comments to a particular segment of our society and their relationship to health care, seniors. Since 2000, it has been my responsibility for the Canadian Alliance to look at the issues for seniors. The major issue for seniors, whether they were in British Columbia, in Saskatchewan, in Nova Scotia or in New Brunswick, was the issue of health care.
Our consultations were informal and we ended up talking to real people about real problems and where they existed on the day to day experience. The viewpoints expressed by these people were not those of learned scholars. They were the viewpoints of people who were suffering and people who were experiencing difficulty with the health care system.
The idea was to have organizations and groups of seniors work together to make things better. These organizations and many of the frontline caregivers struggle under a health care system that is too often inadequate and underfunded.
Through these visits, I came to realize that my main objective was not to sell a particular political idea but rather to be a voice for these people in the Parliament of Canada where the important decisions are made. That is what I intend to do here tonight.
It is the same perspective that will become increasingly important because of the demographic shift that has taken place in Canada. By the year 2040, roughly 25% of our population will reach the age of 65 or older. The implications of that are very serious for the health care system. We also need to recognize that the greatest proportion of the money spent on health care is for people between age of 85 and older, particularly women. Older seniors, the majority of them women living alone, need more and more health care. Will the health care system and health care services meet that growing demand? Where will we get the final funding to support home care and long term care? Will the specialty services required for older seniors be there when they are needed? How can we ensure that the cost of prescription drugs will be reasonable and affordable?
Only a few months ago the Canadian Medical Association charged the federal government with systematically underfunding the health care system, in particular, specialty care. What does the federal government intend to do with the CMA's charge that it is systematically underfunding the health care system?
Those are some of the questions that the seniors asked as we talked to them about their problems and concerns with health care.
Let me read into the record what some of the seniors specifically said. I want to be very careful to read this exactly the way they said it. I do not have all of them but we have some.
The comments are as follows: Health care spending is wasted; too many services have been cut and there is a lack of facilities; hospitals, emergency units and intensive care facilities are being closed, forcing families to be transferred greater and greater distances away from family support; the cost of drugs is too high and more affordable generic drugs take too long to come to market; federal health care funding must be restored; the federal-provincial governments must work together to resolve health care issues; the cost of covering diseases such a Alzheimer's and diabetes are insurmountably high for seniors; user fees for emergency rooms might alleviate crowding and unnecessary use; nursing homes are understaffed; a better understanding of the care needed for seniors could mean that not all health care providers need be doctors, nurses or specialists; organizations that care for seniors could do a better job of co-ordinating activities to avoid duplication; there is a lack of monitoring of quality and standards of institutionalized care; governments could lower or remove taxes to offset the cost of living at home; prevention and a lifelong promotion of good health could reduce health care costs.
Those are only a few of the comments that were made but they cover a full range of issues. They refer to almost every aspect of health care, from home care to drug costs.
Seniors are aware of the deficiencies of the health care system. If I could summarize in one statement what seniors fear most about the state of the current health care system it would be this: They feel their ability to receive timely and affordable care in the setting of their choice is being compromised. This is the kind of health care seniors want: timely, affordable, and in the setting of their choice. If we can offer seniors a health care system that provides these three things we will have gone a long way to addressing the most pressing problems.
What does timely mean? When seniors ask for health care that is timely they are seeking services that are available where and when they need them. Seniors need to have access to services, particularly those of specialists, without delay. If they need to be cared for in a hospital they do not want to wait until a bed becomes available. Nor do they want to drive miles and miles to get treatment. If resources and services were more readily available at the community level the desire for timely care would be satisfied.
Seniors want health care to be affordable. When seniors ask for affordable health care they mean services that are within their means. This is particularly true of seniors living on fixed incomes. Seniors have told me that living on a fixed income presents a challenge in terms of both meeting current costs and planning for inevitable cost increases in the future.
As provincial governments try to deal with deficits and decreased funding from the federal government, services for seniors are too often hit with cutbacks. Seniors are expected to absorb increased costs to the provinces in such areas as medical services, drug plans, community and care services, transportation, income supplements and housing. In some cases seniors have said they were forced into financial distress and into a position where they had to choose between food or medicine. If on top of that they are faced with a long term illness, what do they do? Affordability is critical to the health and well-being of seniors.
Seniors want to have care in the setting of their choice. This is probably the most important aspect of health care for seniors. Without question their preferred choice is to remain at home. Yet they are faced with uncertainty. I do a daily scan of newspapers for stories related to seniors. Overwhelmingly, by a ratio of about three to one, the issue of cutbacks to home care is the big issue.
Not only are cuts to home care in direct opposition to what seniors want. They deny seniors independence, something they consider their most valuable asset. Seniors argue that the lack of good home care puts direct pressure on other housing options. Seniors have been quick to tell me that neither low income housing nor institutional care options meet the demands of persons facing the prospect of leaving their homes.
Seniors are not only talking about their problems and concerns. They are talking about solutions. I do not want to oversimplify the issues, but I believe seniors could achieve timely and affordable health care in a setting of their choice if two things happened: First, we need to develop and maintain a harmonious relationship between the provinces, territories and federal government. In January the Minister of Health said:
The provinces...deliver health care, they are on the front lines of health care every day, and therefore what I want to do is work with them cooperatively to renew the system they largely run in this country.
This kind of comment is encouraging to Canadian seniors. They like that kind of co-operative spirit.
Second, we need stable funding. We are not alone in this. The Romanow commission agrees it is the case.
We could achieve solutions to our health care problems by establishing harmonious relationships and stable funding. I would argue, as our party has from time to time, that this should become the sixth principle of the Canada Health Act. We could call it a guide or a requirement. In any event, stable funding should be a legislated requirement under the Canada Health Act. It can be done. I would challenge the government to do so at the earliest possible opportunity.