SOWK 2100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Canada Health Act, Dementia

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Social Work
• Course: SOWK 2100
• Professor: Susan Braedley

Document Summary

There is more than one kind of care for the elderly. In fact, most of the care comes from unpaid family members (mostly women) By 2051, 25% of the population will be over 65. Most seniors are healthy, active and financially independent. In the 2011 census, seniors made up 14. 8%, up from 13. 7% five years earlier. Seniors are one of the biggest users of health care. This is mostly the oldest old over 80. In canada, the growing percentage of seniors is anticipated to strain public health care provision, and this concern is being used to justify policy change. Pharmaceutical companies are making a lot of money from the aging population. Public health care has been under attack as too expensive and inefficient since the changes to federal funding in the mid 1990s. There are reasons to ask questions about who will benefit and who will pay if public health care for older people is more restricted.