For decades, baby boomers have had a profound impact on just about every aspect of society you care to name, from art and popular culture to politics and economics.
Now, the demographic bulge that makes up close to one-third of Canada’s population is getting old, and it’s about to train the full force of its neediness on one of our most treasured institutions — the health-care system. The question is: Will the effect be merely great, or will this increasingly decrepit horde cause the collapse of health care, producing a tsunami across the economy?
The answer is buried in the contradictory nature of the boomers themselves. They simultaneously defy traditional notions of aging, yet feel completely entitled to impose extraordinary demands on the health-care system.
At the onset of senior citizenship, they’re far perkier than their parents’ generation at the same age. They’re generally more active, they’re working longer, they’re embracing wellness in all its forms, and they can look forward to a steadily expanding life expectancy. Yet the numerically greatest generation of all aggressively consumes prescription drugs, medical tests, surgical procedures and all kinds of ancillary care. After all, they’re boomers, and it’s their due.
The stakes in the boomer health-care onslaught are extremely high. This year, as the first of the boomers turn 65, Ontario will spend more than 46 cents of every dollar it takes in to fund health care. At the current annual rate of growth, the province will spend 50 cents on the dollar on health care by 2014, and about 66 cents by 2030, when the youngest boomers will hit retirement age.
Ontario isn’t alone. Every province faces the prospect that health-care costs will spiral out of control, undermining other priorities, like educating people and helping to grow the economy.
Obviously much needs to be done to better manage the health-care system, to make it more efficient and effective for each dollar spent. But much depends on baby boomers attitudes and behaviour. Granted, killers like cancer and heart disease are threats, so are obesity and age-related diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure.
To the extent that boomers stay active, follow balanced diets and avoid bad habits, the risks will be mitigated. The same goes for proactive screening to detect conditions before they become serious. Senior boomers who lead healthy lifestyles won’t just be helping themselves; they’ll be helping all of us. Let’s hope they eat their spinach.
