A majority of seniors or soon-to-be retirees are concerned whether their finances will be able to stretch far enough to cover serious future health issues.
Take for example, home care, which is partially covered for those who qualify. Consider the fact 8 million Canadians provide care for loved ones, with 8 in 10 of them finding it a difficult task. Home care is considered an “extended” service under the Canada Healthcare Act and is 80% funded by the Ministry of Health and Longterm Care: the rest is privately provided, with hourly costs ranging from $25 to $125.
Retirement homes are privately owned and operated with prices ranging from $2500/month to $10,000/month or more.
Nursing homes (which provide long-term care) are partially funded by the governmen,. Typical prices are $1,795 to $2,564 a month co-pay for room and board and wait times can range from months to years.
Already, 564,000 Canadians are living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. That amounts to 14.9% of Canadians aged 65 and older; and if nothing changes, the figure will almost double to 937,000 within 15 years. Add in spouses and caregivers and 1.1 million Canadians are affected directly or indirectly by dementia.
Here is an example of the costs of the average private facility for five years with an hour of personal care assistance a day: $300,000, $600,000 for a couple”
Some seniors experience sticker shock when they realize this: the percentage of the total nest egg allocated to health care chews up more than a third of $1 million.