Canadian seniors will consume 71.4 per cent of total health care expenditures in 2040

VANCOUVER—Canadians over the age of 65, who are projected to make up 23.4 per cent of the population by 2040, will account for 71.4 per cent of total health care expenditures in that year, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, Canadian public policy think-tank. “As a result of Canada’s aging population and the higher per capita health care costs of seniors, Canada’s health care system is on track to become essentially a senior health care system over the next few decades, which will leave fewer health resources for everyone else in the absence of policy changes,” said Steven Globerman, a Fraser Institute senior fellow and author of Aging and Expenditures on Health Care.