The Cost Case

Home and community care is not just a compassionate option for seniors — it is an economic necessity. Across British Columbia, the lack of accessible home support is forcing thousands of older adults into hospitals, the most expensive place in the healthcare system to receive care.

Seniors aged sixty-five and older account for up to one-third of emergency room visits in B.C., and one in three of those visits leads to hospitalization. Yet many of these patients no longer require acute medical treatment. They remain in hospital beds because appropriate home support, assisted living, or long-term care simply is not available.

These “Alternate Level of Care” (ALC) patients come at a staggering cost. Keeping a senior in an acute-care hospital bed costs between $825 and $1,968 per day, which is often well over $1,000 daily. By comparison, long-term care averages about $200 per day, while home support can cost less than $50 per day.

Math is hard to ignore. A typical 24-day hospital stay for an ALC senior can cost approximately $24,000. The equivalent period of home support could cost as little as $1,200.

In 2024/25, more than 20,000 seniors in B.C. occupied hospital beds as ALC patients, a 14% increase since 2019/20. Collectively, these delayed discharges are estimated to cost the province between $500 million and $800 million annually.

Investing in home and community care is not simply better for seniors — it is one of the clearest opportunities to reduce healthcare costs while improving quality of life.

Help improve home support for seniors in BC. Add your voice to the campaign and send a message to your MLA today:

https://www.healthcareneedshomecare.ca/