January 20, 2009

Eye View

"Boomers Getting Dementia: New Study," shouted the headlines
in the Daily News.

Baby boomers are "being struck by the brain-destroying
diseases" and that a "grey tsunami that is poised to swamp
the health care system and severely affect the economy."

Wow, we are about to be swept away by old-timers.
Exaggeration aside, the heated rhetoric seems a bit over the
top. It's based on a report from the Alzheimer Society of
Canada. However, closer examination of the report reveals
primary focus on health and social issues, not financial.

Future health costs are not a surprise. The Royal Commission
on the Future of Health Care estimates that total costs will
increase 2.9 per cent from 1998 to 2030; well within the
range of inflation. Only one-third of those increases (0.9
per cent) will be due to seniors.

Most of the projected increases in health care costs are not
due to seniors but from inflationary pressure factors such
as rising drug costs and salaries for health-care providers.

Realistically, the grey tsunami is more like a low tide.
It's a story that is repeated so often that people start to
think it's true. Professor Robert Evans, health economist at
the University of British Columbia, explains it this way:
"The demographic story gets told over and over again because
it's simple."

The demographic story is simplistic because it assumes there
is one group of senior citizens when there are two. The
"younger" group in their 60s tends to be more of a burden.
Boomers fall into this category. A lifetime of poor
exercise and diet is catching up on them. While boomers may
require expensive hospital treatment, the elderly (75 and
up) can be cared for in nursing homes.

Boomers aren't called the "me" generation for nothing. They
assume that their problems are paramount. And boomer
life-style choices contribute to more problems than
Alzheimer's: diabetes, heart disease, circulatory problems.
All these are expensive to treat.

Alzheimer's disease in the elderly is usually uncomplicated
by obesity and lack of exercise. They are not a great
health expense because sufferers often die quickly in a
relatively low-cost nursing home. The elderly don't exit
this world in an expensive hospital bed.

Age does not determine health care costs; sickness does.

Health care is expensive in the final year of life
regardless of age. According to a report from the Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives, health costs in the last
year are about $29,000 for men and $51,000 for women; no
matter if they are young or old.

Why does the myth of the "grey tsunami" persist when only
about 30 per cent of increased costs can be attributed to
that group?

To find the answer, follow the money. Those who stand to
profit most from alarmist predictions of a failing health
care system are private health care providers. Although
they would never admit it, health care costs are too low for
their liking, not too high. The only way to extract more
money from the efficient Canadian health care system is to
make it less efficient.

You get some sense of this argument from the right-wing
Fraser Institute that routinely questions the
"sustainability" of a public-health system serving an aging
population. The elderly are not the only target of gloom
and doom. Alarmists will eagerly pick away at any perceived
flaw: waiting times, doctor shortage, overpaid unionized
staff,

I don't mean to suggest that the motives of the Alzheimer
Society of Canada are the same as the Fraser Institute. As
a charitable organization, their goal is raise awareness and
fund treatment.

Their press release paints a slightly different picture than
the one distributed by the Canadian Press. When you read
the release from the Alzheimer Society website, a different
story emerges. While they express concern, they downplay
the sensational angle.

The society discusses the social impact of Alzheimer's.
"This means that it isn't only our health care and social
systems that are being overwhelmed. The reality is that the
businesses and industry sectors are also being affected as
our boomer generation, a generation of leaders and mentors,
are affected by dementia."

The real loss to society is the sudden loss of skilled
tradesmen, engineers and business leaders.

Fortunately, elderly Canadians are ready to fill the gap.
Far from being a burden, they built the society from which
we all benefit. They are taking less than they gave.
 

David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca

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