The challenges facing the Island's seniors are growing, and action is needed quickly before they spiral out of control.

That is the message from the report, "Ageing in Bermuda: Meeting the Needs of Seniors", which was released yesterday.

The report found that many seniors are under severe financial stress and are heavily dependent on Government pensions, which were never designed to meet all of the needs of the elderly.

The stress is exacerbated by the fact that health insurance premiums are skyrocketing, and fully a third say that their health insurance does not adequately cover the cost of medication or doctor's visits.

None of this is new. This newspaper has been preaching the message for years now. And what is more worrying is that Bermuda's elderly population is likely to grow in the next decade as the baby boom generation starts to retire.

What the report does so is provide factual information that reflects just how deep the problem is.

More than half of the Island's seniors have incomes under $30,000 a year or $576 a week. And one quarter of seniors under the age of 80 and more than half of seniors over the age of 80 have incomes of less than $12,000 a year ? a mere $230 a week.

Not surprisingly, about one third of seniors in each age category say they have difficulty making ends meet and two thirds say they worry about their ability to manage their health problems.

Nor is it surprising that these financial strains have caused a "considerable" level of depression and anxiety among seniors and among caregivers to the elderly, the vast majority of whom are close family members and many of whom are over the age of 65 themselves.

The report, which was compiled by specialists on the elderly from Fordham University in New York, lays out a range of recommendations for better coordination of care to the elderly, an increased number of services and for better awareness of the services that do exist.

The recommendations generally make sense and are worth implementing.

They do not address in detail the solutions to the two key problems facing the elderly ? inadequate incomes and health care costs.

And Health Minister Patrice Minors said at yesterday's press conference that meeting the needs of seniors was not the purview of Government alone.

Apparently Mrs. Minors did not see any contradiction in then adding: "We recognise the challenges of our seniors and our caregivers and this Minister will do the right thing to correct the situation."

Mrs. Minors is right, but only up to a point, when she says this is not Government's problem alone. The private sector, charities and families all have a vital role to play, but if Government fails to meet its responsibilities, it will all be for nought.

Government has to take the lead in first acknowledging the severity of the problems that senior citizens and secondly in working out how to deal with them.

The fact that Government has increased pensions in the last year and will bring amendments to financial assistance regulations which penalise seniors who own their own homes is welcome.

But it has taken Government six years to get this far. And only Government can take the lead in improving pensions ? and making sure they are paid for ? and in finding ways with the various health providers to cap health insurance increases.

The next few years will see a growing number of pensioners and an increasing financial crisis. The time for action is now.