According to a new Leger Marketing poll conducted for the Ontario Lung Association, 9 out of 10 of Ontarians would support the Ontario government investing in lung health today if it would save future healthcare spending.
Based on recent life and economic burden research and consultations with allied health care partners, the Ontario Lung Association has calculated that for every $1 invested in lung health, $3 could be saved in future healthcare costs. This is in addition to the thousands of lives that would be saved by such investments.
The Ontario Lung Association is using this evidence to urgently call on the province's next government to make lung health a priority and to establish a province-wide Ontario Lung Health Action Plan. In collaboration with more than 40 lung health stakeholders, the Lung Association is encouraging voters to talk to their candidates about lung health and the necessity for the Ontario Government to commit to a coordinated cross-cabinet effort to mitigate costs of lung health to taxpayers and Ontario families.
The Growing Threat of Lung Disease
Today, more than 2.4 million people in Ontario are living with lung disease, a number that - without improvements to the province's approach to lung health - is expected to escalate by 50 per cent over the next 30 years to 3.6 million Ontarians.
Research commissioned by the Ontario Lung Association helps to quantify the scope and costs of lung disease in the province, now and thirty years into the future. Detailed in a report called Your Lungs, Your Life: Insights and Solutions to Lung Health In Ontario, the research examines three disease areas - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and lung cancer - and recommends interventions that could be easily implemented by the Government of Ontario to save hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars.
"Overwhelmingly, nine out of every 10 Ontarians are saying an investment in lung health makes sense," says George Habib, president and CEO, Ontario Lung Association. "The province's physicians, nurses and respiratory communities are saying it makes sense. The message can't get much clearer: the time for an Ontario Lung Health Action Plan is right now."
For the 2.4 million Ontarians currently living with lung disease an Ontario Lung Health Action Plan would mean fewer days of missed work or school, fewer hospital visits, shorter hospital stays, higher productively and overall a better quality of life. And for all taxpayers it will save billions of dollars in direct and indirect healthcare costs.
"Given the pressure that chronic disorders are putting on the healthcare system, as well as the economy, maintaining the status quo no longer makes sense," says Jan Kasperski, CEO of the Ontario College of Family Physicians and member of the Ontario Lung Association's Stakeholder Panel. "That is why we are joining the Ontario Lung Association to ask all election candidates to make lung health a priority. The Lung Association research provides clear direction for advancement in lung health, and identifies significant savings within our reach."
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