Age, costs of acute and long-term care and proximity to death: evidence for 1987-88 and 1994-95 in British Columbia

he consequences of ageing populations for health care costs have become a concern for governments and health care funders in most countries. However, there is increasing evidence that costs are more closely related to proximity to death than to age. This means that projections using age-specific costs will exaggerate the impact of ageing. Previous studies of the relationship of age, proximity to death and costs have been restricted to acute medical care.