'The world has not fallen apart in Alberta or Ontario, where they do not charge for this.'
Isobel Mackenzie called for the restructuring of home support services for seniors in a report on Thursday, with eliminating fees for seniors' home care the top recommendation.
She said a senior in B.C. with an annual income of $29,000 is charged $9,000 a year for daily one-hour home support visits. "The evidence is fairly compelling we are seeing premature admissions to long-term care," Mackenzie said. "In B.C., about two-thirds of clients have no charge," he said. "Those are obviously the lowest-income clients. We spend not far from $1 billion on home and community care and about $30 million of that comes back in fees."He said he agreed with Mackenzie's concerns that some seniors are entering long-term care too early when they could still be at home.
B.C.'s rate of recently admitted long-term care residents with low-care needs is twice as high as Alberta and Ontario, Mackenzie said. The report also found a decline in satisfaction with home support services over the past five years among seniors and their loved ones.
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