Changes are coming to the rates seniors living in residential care pay for room and board, and for most, the rate is going up.
Health minister Kevin Falcon made the announcement from Victoria on Sept. 8.
With the new changes, 80 per cent of every residential care client's after-tax income will go towards paying their room and board, up to a capped maximum of $2,932 a month, depending on income. Under the system, clients must be left with at least $275 a month for personal expenses.
"It means that 25 per cent of residential care clients will be paying less. 75 per cent of residential care clients will be paying more," Falcon said. "Where we have a real problem and disparity in the system is that low-income clients are typically paying about 80 per cent of their income for looking after their room and board, while the higher income clients are paying about 62 per cent, so there's an imbalance."
The change, scheduled to begin phasing in in January, will affect about 100 patients living at Shorncliffe and Totem Lodge residential care facilities in Sechelt, according to Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) spokesperson Anna Marie D'Angelo. Both facilities are operated by VCH.
Falcon said the new rate structure will raise about $5.4 million per year, which will go directly back into residential care.
Falcon said with the seniors' population of B.C. on track to double over the next 25 years, a more equitable co-pay rate is needed to ensure the future of quality care.
"I know it is difficult for those who are impacted. I'm very, very sympathetic to that, but I want seniors to know, I believe it is the right thing to do, and I think that if we don't act now and put a new equitable rate structure in place that is fair, then our children are going to be inheriting a severe and very challenging financial situation they will not be able to afford," he said.
Nicholas Simons, MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast, said he doesn't agree with charging more to seniors on a fixed income, of which the Sunshine Coast has a higher population than the provincial average.
"That's a significant burden to add to people who are on fixed incomes. I'm not sure how fair and equitable an announcement that your cost of living is suddenly going to be increased substantially is," he said. "Basically [the government] claims their cupboards are bare and they're asking the seniors to stock those cupboards, and I think that's unfair."
Simons said there isn't a simple alternative to changing the co-pay rates. Instead, he puts the blame on the government for losing revenues through privatization and corporate tax cuts.
