Erratum

The first paragraph of the paper “Population Aging and the Determinants of Healthcare Expenditures,” by Steven Morgan and Colleen Cunningham (Healthcare Policy 7(1): 68–79), has been modified and now reads as follows:

The gap between rhetoric and reality concerning the effects of population aging on health systems is a major challenge for managers (and students) of healthcare systems: research dating back 30 years illustrates that population aging exerts modest pressure on health system costs in Canada (Denton and Spencer 1983; Barer et al. 1987, 1995; Roos et al. 1987; Marzouk 1991; Evans et al. 2001; McGrail et al. 2001; Denton et al. 2009). Nevertheless, there is widespread belief that the sustainability of the healthcare system is under serious threat due to population aging. Now that the first members of the baby boomer generation are turning 65, rhetoric concerning population aging and the sustainability of healthcare is particularly widespread. Reflecting on public concerns about the sustainability of Canada's healthcare system, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has recently referred to aging of the population as a “silver tsunami” (CMA 2010). False perceptions of a healthcare crisis may emerge when these ideas are combined with government spending forecasts; for example, projecting past cost trends on future population demographics, Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer recently estimated that healthcare in Canada will comprise 14% of GDP by 2040 and, if left unchecked, 50% of GDP by 2080 (Askari et al. 2010).