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The Private Cost of Long-Term Care in Canada: Where You Live Matters*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2010

Natasha Fernandes  and
Byron G. Spencer
Natasha Fernandes
Affiliation:
McMaster University
Byron G. Spencer*
Affiliation:
McMaster University
*
†Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to / La correspondance et les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à: Byron G. Spencer, Ph.D., Department of Economics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M4 ([email protected])
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Abstract

Canadians expect the same access to health care whether they are rich or poor, and wherever they live, often without direct charge at the point of service. However, we find that the private cost of long-term care differs greatly across the country, and within provinces, we find substantial variation, depending on income level, marital status, and, in Quebec alone, on assets owned. A non-married person with average income would pay more than twice as much in the Atlantic provinces as in Quebec, while a couple with one in care would pay almost four times as much in Newfoundland as in Alberta.

Résumé

Les Canadiens s’attendent le même accès aux soins de santé, qu’ils soient riches ou pauvres, et n’importe où ils vivent, souvent sans frais directs au point de service. Toutefois, nous trouvons que le coût privé de soins de longue durée diffère grandement partout au pays, et dans les provinces, nous trouvons des variations importantes, selon le niveau de revenu, l’état matrimonial et, au Québec seulement, selon les actifs détenus. Une personne non-mariée avec un revenu moyen devrait payer plus de deux fois autant dans les provinces de l’Atlantique qu’au Québec, tandis qu’un couple, dont une personne a besoin de soins, paierait quatre fois plus en Terre-Neuve comme en Alberta.

Keywords

soins de longue duréecoût privélong-term careprivate cost
Type
Special SEDAP Section: Canada’s Vulnerable Older Populations / Section spéciale SEDAP: Les Populations âgées vulnérables du Canada: Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 307 - 316
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2010

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Footnotes

*

The authors are grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for its support of the SEDAP (Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population) Research Program through its Major Collaborative Research Initiative.

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