29 | Friday, May 2, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com A Metroland Special Series: Part 2 coverage. Basic coverage includes ambu- for Ontario. lance service, nursing care, dental work and "(We) have to start thinking about how partial payments towards sessions with a to develop fairer and sustainable financing registered podiatrist, physiotherapist, mas- systems that can still allow us to ensure all sage therapist and chiropractor. Ontarians can access the pharmaceutical Blue Cross does not cover prescription therapies they need, regardless of their abildr ugs after age 65 ity to pay for them," because seniors in this stated the 198-page province qualify for the report by Dr. Samir Ontario Drug Benefit. Sinha, director of geriA dental exam atrics at Mount Sinai and diagnosis costs and the University $65, according to Health Network hosWith life expectancy increasing, the Ontario Dental pitals. seniors must plan for a longer Association's 2014 fee Ontarians need retirement. The number of censchedule. to consider healthtenarians increased 22 per cent Need dental X-rays? care planning in their between 2001-06 to 4,635. That A complete set of 12 retirement preparanumber is expected to triple by images costs $123. tions, advised Bob 2031. Cleaning and polishing McGaraughty, a finanWithin your teeth costs a minicial security adviser with three years, mum of $55. Freedom 55 Financial Ontario If a senior has a in Ottawa. Plan on seniors will crown that needs to be retiring on 70 per cent out-number restored, the suggestof your pre-retirement our populaed cost is $685. Root earnings, he said. tion of youths canal therapy begins at "Your health is a aged 15 and $441. Dentures start at big issue. If you've got younger. To $751 for the upper palyour health, then your prepare for ate and $956 for lower costs are stabilized. If the influx of teeth. your health deterioseniors, the Seniors 65 and older rates quickly ... that's Ontario govpay just under $50 for a big (cost)," he said. Mario er nment is an eye test. "If you can't pay for Sergio working to Should a senior need your medicine, then provide more a chiropractor, maswhat do you do?" home care for seniors, among sage therapy, physioThen there is other initiatives. therapy or a podiatrist, the matter of how Minister Responsible for those costs are not Ontarians will afford Seniors Affairs Mario Sergio, 73, paid by OHIP. Seniors their care as they age. is also pushing for an increase in must pay for those serAccording to Statistics CPP and calling on the federal vices out-of-pocket or Canada, the median government to help. through private insurafter-tax income for "Financially, unless either the ance. seniors over the age province and the feds come on A visit to the chiof 65 in 2010 was board and find a way to help ropractor costs up to $26,185. Besides seniors save more money to retire $140 for a 40-minmedical expenses, this they are going to be a huge burute session, the 2014 money must also cover den on government, provincial Ontario Chiropractic costs such as housing, and federal," he said. A s s o c i a t i o n Fe e food, transportation, Schedule sug gests. social events and comA detailed exam can munication. cost between $140 and Some 92 per cent $280. of Canadian seniors aged 65 and older A massage delivered by a registered mas- live in private dwellings, Statistics Canada's sage therapist costs $38 for 15 minutes and 2011 Census reported. In doing so, this $102 for an hour. Seniors 65 and older may often requires the added costs of installing be eligible for publicly-funded physiotherapy with a doctor's referral, the Ontario government's health services branch reports. A single senior with a yearly net income of less than $16,018 or a senior couple whose combined net annual income is less CARP cites Germany as a "good than $24,175 or a senior on Ontario Works test case" for alternate ways of funding or the Ontario Disability Support Program, LTC. Germany's population is older than living in long-term care or receiving home Canada's: more than 20 per cent are 65 or care pay no deductible and only $2 per preolder; five per cent are older than 80. scription filled. Germany, like Japan, Korea, the Ensuring Ontarians have access to drugs Netherlands and Luxembourg, provides they need regardless of cost is one of 169 universal coverage for LTC, which operrecommendations contained in a 2012 ates much like the Canada Pension. report entitled Living Longer, Living Well, that's intended to inform a Seniors Strategy Senior Tsunami "If you can't pay for your medicine, then what do you do?" accessibility aids or hiring a live-in housethan a live-in keeper. To minimize costs, some seniors caregiver can choose to open their home to another per- provide, many son in exchange for light household chores opt to move into and cheap rent. a long-term care home Seniors living in subsidized housing pay (LTC). A LTC home provides 24-hour sereither 30 per cent of their income (rent- vices and care and is often where seniors geared-to-income) or 20 per cent below will live out their life. Rates at the homes market rent (affordable are regulated by the housing), depending on Ministr y of Health the housing arrangeand Long-Term Care Does your ment. What their maxiat $1,707.59 a month mum income can be and for a basic room with retirement budget how they apply, varies by subsidies available from include: district and municipality the government. Semi· Housing throughout the province. private or private r In Muskoka, seniors ooms cost more. In · Food applying for a subsidized 2011-12, the median · Utilities one-bedroom unit must time to be on a wait list · Transportation be living on less than for a long-term care $29,700 per year. · Social events room was 98 days. And the cheaper cost Fred's wife, Doris, · Entertainment comes at a price. There's moved into a private · Communication a wait list. In Muskoka, it's room in a LTC home · Helpers three to five years, but in last December in Peel, it's 20 years. Some Bracebridge, Ont. · Accesibility aids areas have seniors-only It costs $2,275 a · Health insurance subsidized housing, which month. · Prescriptions may reduce the wait time, Fred lives next-door some do not. in subsidized housing · Dental Others choose to at $650 per month plus · Vision care spend their golden years utilities. · Chiropractor in a retirement home. Multiple times a day, There are 700 such · Physiotherapist Fred joins his wife for facilities in Ontario, from meals paid for by the · Podiatrist townhouses to aparthome. · Long-term care ments, providing a variHow can Fred and ety of services and lifeDoris afford their care? styles for seniors from Fourteen years ago, living with no assistance to in-home care. the couple who will have been married 55 At an average cost of $3,204 per unit per years in June sold an apartment building month, it's an expense that's well above an they'd owned for a decade for approxientire monthly budget of $2,182 for those mately $700,000. living on $26,185 or less per year. Fred still owns property in Huntsville: When seniors are no longer able to live "We've still got that to sell if need be," on their own or require more intensive care he said. How other countries finance long-term care Participation is mandatory. Individuals and employers pay equal contributions. Unemployment insurance covers contributions for the unemployed. Since 2008, total contributions for the first 44,550 Euros of annual income are 1.95 per cent, split equally between employer and employee. Since LTC insurance is meant to pro- vide a baseline of care, German citizens are free to purchase supplementary private LTC coverage, which more than 1.58 million Germans did as of 2009. Every month, recipients choose between cash, for people who require lighter care or home care services, and in-kind benefits intended for people who require more intense care in nursing homes.