Ontarians
and Long-term Health Care
Majority of Ontarians are concerned about
affordability (60%) and availability (57%)
of long-term care, and are taking steps (63%) to ensure that they have
sufficient savings set aside
Just over half (56%) of Ontarians believe
long-term care facilities should be operated by a mix of for-profit and
not-for-profit organizations -- four in ten (39%) want not-for-profit only
Public Release Date: April 2, 2001
Toronto,
ON -- A new survey released today shows that six in ten (60%) Ontarians are
concerned (43% "very concerned", 18% "concerned") about the
affordability of long-term care for themselves or another family member.
Another 27% of Ontarians say that they are “somewhat concerned”.
In addition to affordability concerns, six in ten (57%) are concerned
about the availability of long-term care facilities when the need arises (40%
"very concerned", 17% "concerned").
Three in ten (29%) Ontarians say that they are “somewhat concerned”.
●
Women are more likely
to be concerned about the affordability (65%) and availability (62%) of
long-term health care than men (55% and 51%).
These
are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted between February 6th and
February 19th. The poll
is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,000 adult Ontarians.
With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within
± 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had
the entire adult Ontario population been polled.
The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other
sub-groupings of the survey population.
These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional
and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Ontario population according
to the 1996 Census data.
The
survey results were released at the 2001 Annual Meeting and Convention of the
Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes and Services for Seniors (OANHSS).
Although
only one in ten (11%) Ontarians currently have someone in their immediate family
who is in a long-term care facility, half (50%) think that it is either “very
likely” (38%) or “likely” (12%) that they or a member of their immediate
family will require long-term care in the next twenty years. A further quarter
(24%) think it is “somewhat likely” that a loved one will require long-term
care.
Two-thirds
(68%) of Ontarians say that long-term care is “very important” (46%) or
“important” (22%) to them. Another
25% say that long-term care is ”somewhat important” to them. Less than one
in ten (8%) say that long-term care is “not very important” (6%) or “not
at all important” (2%) to them.
Sixty-three
percent of Ontarians say that they are currently taking steps to ensure that
they will have sufficient savings set aside for "the possibility of
requiring long-term care in the future".
Of those, half (50%) say they have used their RRSP to prepare for this,
while 38% say they "are spending less, saving more or watching their
money". Meanwhile, 37% of
Ontarians say that they not currently taking steps to save for future long-term
care.
·
Ontarians aged
55 and older (72%) and 35 to 54 (69%) are more likely to be currently saving for
the possibility of long-term care than those aged 18 to 34 (50%).
·
Those earning
$60k or more (70%) and between $30k to $60k (65%) %) are more likely to be
saving for the possibility of long-term care than those earning less than $30k
(41%).
But,
among the more than one third (37%) who are not currently setting aside savings
for the possibility of their long term care, half (55%) think that they will
need to begin setting aside savings for the future.
Ontarians
are fairly split on the performance of the provincial government with regard to
its investing and providing long-term care facilities in Ontario. One-third
(32%) think that the provincial government is doing either a “poor” (22%) or
“very poor” (11%) job, while 21% think the government is doing either a
“good” (19%) or “excellent” (2%) job.
The remaining 46% rate the government’s performance as “fair” (41%)
or are unsure (5%).
·
University
graduates (39%) are more likely to rate the government’s performance regarding
long-term care as poor or very poor than those with a high school education or
less (27%) or some post secondary education (24%).
When
asked who they think long term care facilities for the aged should be operated
by, a majority (56%) indicate "a mix of for-profit companies and
not-for-profit organisations" followed by 39% who prefer
"not-for-profit organisations only".
Only 3% opt for "for-profit companies".
· University graduates (62%) are more likely to support a mix of the organizations than those with high school education or less (50%).
·
Ontarians earning $60k (64%) or more are more likely
to support a mix of the organizations compared to those earning less than $30k
(44%).
John Wright
Senior Vice- President
Public Affairs
Ipsos-Reid
(416) 324-2900
Ipsos-Reid
(formerly Angus Reid) is one of North America’s largest market and opinion
research companies, serving over 1,200 clients via its 11 offices and with
annual research sales of $65 million.
Established in 1979 by Dr. Angus Reid, the company undertakes global
research on behalf of private, public and not for profit organizations in over
50 countries. Ipsos-Reid is a
member of the IPSOS family of companies headquartered in Paris, France with
research operations in 27 countries. Global
research within IPSOS is coordinated under the Ipsos-Reid brand.
For
copies of other news releases, please visit
http://www.ipsos-reid.com/media/content/PRE_REL.cfm
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OANHSS members include not-for-profit providers of long term care, services and
housing for seniors in Ontario.
Members include municipal and charitable long term care homes, non-profit
nursing homes,
seniors' housing projects and community
service agencies.