News
Insurance policies that would pay for the long-term social care of the elderly is one of the options set to be proposed by the government today.
The proposal is believed to be part of a long-awaited green paper on the funding of social and residential care due to be released by ministers on Tuesday.
An overhaul of the means tested care system aims to remove some of the perceived unfairness which sees thousands of old people every year having their assets eaten up by care home fees.
Under the present system, state funding only becomes available once assets (both property and savings) are less than £23,500, meaning many elderly people are forced to sell their homes to pay for their social care.
The proposal for care insurance would see people either paying money into a scheme during their work life in preparation for funding their care, or having a one-off payment of £12,000 deducted from their estate after they have died.
This system would average out healthcare costs; although those requiring little social care before death would be paying more, it would limit the expenditure of old people requiring many years of care which might otherwise almost completely deplete their estate. Several organisations agree such a change would result in a fairer solution.
“Needing care is random, some people need it and others don't because they die in a much shorter period of time, and what people are beginning to understand is that we should share those risks out,” said Andrew Harrop of the charity Age Concern.
With the rise of the so-called “grey vote” and over 50 percent of women and a third of men needing long-term social care at some point during their lives, the issue of social care provision has become an important political debate.
Scotland’s free provision of care, although expensive, has proved a popular policy, though the high expense means it is unlikely England will adopt a similar stance in the near future.
