The challenges of our Long Term Care system
by Ketcia Peters
A few weeks ago, I started a journey into what I believed would have been something easy for me. After all, it intertwines with my line of work. I discovered that not only I did not know the most peculiarities about this, but I also didn’t fully empathise with the millions of people who actually have problems with this.
In part one of this article, I discussed the difficulties that have already arisen due to our “demographic destiny”, the difficulties of our LTC’s system, and I hinted at the wealth disparities that could cause troubles in a shift from mixed ownership to a fully private sector.
I wanted to expand on this last issue.
As discussed in many of my preview articles, wealth, its redistribution and the economic system, in Canada and many other nations, edge a group of people that, for Historic reasons or further motivations, don’t usually comprehend certain groups of people. The systemic racism, rooted in our economics, is not something that we should spend more additional time on this occasion. We had plenty of possibilities to discuss, and plenty more will certainly come in the future with the following article.
At least until the problem is solved we will be able to talk about it.
For those who are particularly interested in this, I would suggest reading “The Black wealth gap in Canada”, by Natalya Anderson.
Coming back to our issue: how does income availability impact in a big way how elders live in the years after their retirement?
It’s not really that hard of a question, is it? Those of you readers who have basic training in Economics could answer with the simple words “budget constraint”, and you would be right, of course.
Nonetheless, what if the budget constraint, especially in this economy that lacks youngsters to support cash flow for OAS and other pensions, will become so high to let our loved ones down? What if, for lacking a better expression, our elders are really house-rich but cash-poor? And what about those who do not possess a house, but still have terrible cash and financial condition? What about the ramping cost of medications? What about the actual condition of the global economy? What about the sky-rocketing cost of energy? What about elder abuse through fraud? What about those LTCs that emotionally and/or physically abuse older people?
In a system, in a Nation, in a world that incentives for-profit solutions (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-how-ontarios-elder-care-policies-favour-for-profit-homes/) no matter what, wealth is the key for happiness and safety. Literally.
Because if your budget does not allow you to pay for the best options out there, or if your family cannot support you, or you cannot support your loved ones, you MUST take whatever services are been thrown at you.
So, here comes really our point: wealth disparities impact us in a major way our elder life from so many angles that it doesn’t really matter how it does it. Wealth disparities simply screw us over.
Nothing revolutionary, I realise that. Anyone could see that coming.
So why write so much to arrive at a conclusion that probably most of you already knew better than anybody?
Because we need to talk about this!
Because we need as well to talk about the importance of nursing homes, as well as other alternatives.
To understand how essential LTC can be to assure a good life for our elders and to understand that starting a conversation on this encompasses different problems that will affect us all, dramatically. In one way or another.
Canada has already a big, huge, problem with keeping the pace of ageing Canadians. We lack LTCs altogether, ’cause we lack workers. We lack alternative solutions, ’cause we push in the direction of mere profit, forgetting the possible advantages of those very same solutions that we have yet to try.
Canada needs to acknowledge the simplistic issue of wealth disparities, to solve a much larger, much more complex matter: how elders live and how this impact all of us at the end of the day.
“A poll conducted by Ipsos for the CMA found that 88 per cent of Canadians are worried about growing health care costs due to the ageing population, while 58 per cent believe many Canadians will delay their retirement to afford the health care they need to remain healthy and independent in their communities.” (NIA, 2019).
Those numbers are ridiculously high, and those respondents cannot be blamed! If we manage this issue with carelessness and stupidity, it is much more than reasonable to be afraid of the future. To be scared by the social impact of the ageing population.
And wealth disparities are right at the centre of the problem. If you’re not wealthy, you’re really more afraid of unexpected expenses, the larger ones, or an increase in taxes.
Just to exemplify: if my uncle Pete cannot afford a private LTC, but has been dismissed by a public one (or he didn’t even get in, in the first place), he will be obliged to be taken care of at home. But nobody can help him, for the thousands of individual reasons that we have, with his issues. He ends up getting hospitalised. He costs the Nation more than he should have if he got the help he needed to begin with.
Evening out the wealth gap, even by a tad, would mean that the overall costs of caring and health care would be lower and it would weigh less on everyone. As well as finding alternative solutions for taking care of our elders.
I wrote in the last article how privatising could have unforeseeable impacts on Canada. Wealth disparities, which most of the time affect racialised people, have a pretty foreseeable influence.
That’s the conversation we need to keep alive. We need to talk about how much we need to reduce disparities for the sake of the whole Nation. Not just part of it. Not just the richer part.
Ketcia Peters is an entrepreneur and community advocate for economic inclusion and development for Black Canadians and the social justice sector. Her firm, Ketcia Peters Group Inc. (KPG) provides bilingual organizational and human development services to the public and private sector. This includes analysis and coaching of HR practices, strategic planning, organizational change, equity and inclusivity, and anti-racism. KPG also provides individual and group coaching. In recent years, KP Group Inc. has shifted to greatly expand its equity, diversity and inclusivity work at the municipal and community level, with a focus on anti-racism and anti-oppression. This work centers on a trauma-informed approach in order to ensure we do not cause further harm to those most marginalized in our communities. Visit her website at: https://ketciapeters.com/