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The Canadian Elder Standard – Pricing the Cost of Basic Needs for the Canadian Elderly*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2010

Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald ,
Doug Andrews  and
Robert L. Brown
Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald*
Affiliation:
University of Waterloo
Doug Andrews
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
Robert L. Brown
Affiliation:
University of Waterloo
*
†Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to / La correspondance concernant cet article doit être adressées à: Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald, Ph.D. Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA, N2L 3G1 ([email protected])
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Abstract

We determined the after-tax income required to finance basic needs for Canadian elders living with different circumstances in terms of age, gender, city of residence, household size, homeowner or renter status, means of transportation, and health status. Using 2001 as our base year, we priced the typical expenses for food, shelter, medical, transportation, miscellaneous basic living items and home-based long-term care for elders living in five Canadian cities. This is the first Canadian study of basic living expenses tailored to elders instead of adults in general, prepared on an absolute rather than a relative basis. We also accounted for an individual’s unique life circumstances and established the varying effect that they have on the cost of basic expenses, particularly for home care. We found that the maximum Guaranteed Income Supplement and Old Age Security benefit did not meet the cost of basic needs for an elder living in poor circumstances.

Résumé

Nous déterminons le revenu après impôt nécessaire pour financer les besoins fondamentaux des Canadiens aînés dans des circonstances différentes en ce qui concerne l’âge, le sexe, ville de résidence, ménage statut de taille, propriétaire ou locataire, moyens de transport et l’état de santé. À l’aide de notre base de l’année 2001, nous estimons les dépenses typiques pour nourriture, abri, soins à domicile à long terme, transport et divers éléments de base à la vie pour personnes âgées résidant dans cinq villes canadiennes. Il s’agit de la première étude canadienne des frais de subsistance de base adaptée aux aînés, plutôt qu’aux adultes en général, et établis sur une base absolue plutôt que relative. Nous avons également compté uniquement pour les conditions de vie de l’individu et ont établi l’effets divers que les conditions de vie des aînés exigent sur le coût des dépenses de base, en particulier pour les soins à domicile.

Keywords

Canadiens aînésmésures de la pauvretésécurité économiquevieillissement en placecoût de la viemesure absoluesoins à domicileCanadian seniorspoverty measureeconomic securityaging-in-placecost-of-livingabsolute measurehome care
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 29 , Issue 1: Special Issue from the Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Project (SEDAP) – Caring for an Aging Population: Context, Practice & Policy , March 2010 , pp. 39 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2010

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Footnotes

*

We thank Cathy Cotton, Richard Shillington, and Janice Keefe for their useful insight into the subject matter, as well as the valuable feedback from the attendees following presentations at the Socio-Economic Analysis and Modeling Division, Statistics Canada, and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries general meeting in 2008. We give a special thanks to Andrew MacKenzie and Patric Fournier-Savard from Statistics Canada for their prompt assistance and valuable advice in determining the home-based long-term health care cost component. We are also grateful for the information provided by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Statistics Canada, and the helpful representatives from provincial food baskets initiatives and public transportation organizations. Many thanks to the anonymous referees for their helpful comments, to Rob Dowsett for his thorough review of an earlier version of this article, and to Gary Mooney for his constructive suggestion on future lines of research. This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from The Actuarial Foundation of Canada (Ottawa, Ontario), and we appreciate their generous financial support. This article was completed while Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald occupied a post-doctoral position at the University of Waterloo. She gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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