OTTAWA – A new study that pegs the cost of care for stroke patients at $2.5 billion in just the first six months shows precisely why Canada needs a comprehensive national strategy for homecare and healthier living, Liberal MPs said today.

“We could make a real difference if we had better national prevention programs in place, such as the Liberal National Food Policy and care strategy,” said Liberal Health Critic Dr. Carolyn Bennett.

“By encouraging health promotion and disease prevention with a nation-wide healthy eating strategy, and by providing caregivers with the help they need to care for their loved ones at home, we would improve our quality of life while dramatically reducing health costs,” added Liberal Public Health Critic Dr. Kirsty Duncan.

A study by the Canadian Stroke Network released on Monday showed that hospitalization, medication, physician services, diagnostic imaging, homecare and rehabilitation of stroke patients all contribute to the costs to the health care system.

But families also take on a greater proportion of stroke-related expenses once the patient is no longer receiving front-line care, including those associated with caregiving, transportation and lost income. People with non-disabling strokes – about 25 percent of patients - personally expend about $2,000 in costs during the first six months. The costs for families increase from there to as much as $200,000 for the most severely affected.

“We have committed to providing financial support for family caregivers, which will ease the burden on those caring for aging loved ones, help reduce costs in our health care system and be better for the economy overall,” said Dr. Duncan

The study also points out that prevention is the biggest factor in reducing health care spending for stroke victims – and in the health system overall – which is also why Liberals have proposed Canada’s first National Food Policy. Included in that policy are new regulations to reduce transfats and sodium in our food supply.

“We know that high consumption of processed transfats leads to a 330% increase in the risk of heart disease and that processed transfats are estimated to be responsible for thousands of cardiac deaths annually in Canada,” said Dr. Bennett. “We can’t prevent disease, fight obesity or control health care costs if we don’t get more healthy home-grown food on our tables – and that’s precisely what our National Food Policy will do.”

“Liberals are the only progressive, compassionate and responsible alternative to the Conservative government – and we’re focused on priorities, like care, that connect to the needs and aspirations of Canadians,” concluded Dr. Duncan. “The borrow-and-spend Conservatives, on the other hand, would rather give corporations a further $6-billion tax cut that we can’t afford right now.”

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