As baby boomers age, cost of care grows too

C.D. Howe report finds health care could grow to 12.6% of GDP by 2067

- MARISA COULTON

Authors of the C.D. Howe Institute report say provinces might consider "prefunding" areas like health care to "spread the financial burden more evenly across generations."

As Canada’s giant baby boom demographic continues to age, provincial governments are going to feel the financial strain — big time, according to a recent report by the C.D. Howe Institute.

The shortfall expected to pay for rising health care costs and income support could reach a staggering $2 trillion, according to report authors William B.P. Robson and Parisa Mahboubi in, “Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt: Fiscal Implications of Demographic Change for Canadian Governments.”

“Without strategic policy interventions, the mounting costs driven by an aging population threaten to outpace revenue growth,” wrote the authors, “leaving provinces with difficult choices about service levels and tax rates.”