England - 'Care insurance' planned for old

[dirtydog]

'Care insurance' planned for old

Older people in England could be asked to take out insurance to pay for long-term care in their old age.

The idea is thought to be one option proposed by ministers in a green paper due on Tuesday on reform of funding of residential and home-based social care.

The current means-tested system for elderly and disabled people is widely regarded as unfair with ministers going as far to call it a "cruel lottery".

But the Tories said the government broken promises on the issue.

The government admits the current system is struggling to cope with the huge pressures already being put on existing care services.

Experts warn demand for social care is likely to intensify as the population ages.

Protecting assets

Under the present English system anyone with a home or savings of £23,500 or more is not given state funding for a care home or help from social services.

This means that thousands of pensioners each year have to sell their homes or use their savings to fund their long-term care, which critics say is unfair and unsustainable.

One option thought to be under consideration in the new green paper is for an insurance-based scheme which would allow people to protect their homes and savings.

If the government merely plans to publish an options paper, then the problem will be kicked into the long grass once again
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley




A range of payment options is likely to be set out, including deducting a single payment from the patient's estate after their death, or making several payments in advance during their working life.

Other possible options could be a co-payment system, where the state pays for the first chunk of care, then the rest is means tested; or a social care tax, working in the same way as national insurance.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham said the measures would ensure a basic entitlement for everyone.

He told the BBC that "now that is a big step forward and it's not something we've been able to say before.

"But under any of the options we'll be putting forward today that is what would happen.

"We have got to end the cruel lottery with people selling their homes."
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said the green paper was unlikely to provide any firm conclusions.



"If that happens, then the Conservative Party will bring forward its own proposal for the funding of long-term care.

"Unlike the government, we will set out a clear plan for change for both the providers of social care and the 45,000 people who are forced to sell their homes every year to pay for it."

Free in Scotland

Andrew Harrop, from the charity Age Concern and Help the Aged said the current system was fundamentally unfair.

"Needing care is random, some people need it and others don't because they die in a sort of much shorter period of time, and what people are beginning to understand is that we should share those risks out."

Already it is estimated that half of women and a third of men over 65 will need long-term care at some point.

And the number of people aged 85 and over is predicted to double over the next 20 years.

We've got to end this postcode lottery in social care
Allan Bowman
Social Care Institute for Excellence

At present, there are four people earning for each one who is retired, but in 40 years that ratio will fall to just two to one.

In Scotland the provision of free personal care has proved popular, but very expensive and it is thought unlikely that ministers in England will adopt a similar policy.

But they concede that a new system is required to deal with a situation that threatens to create a £6bn black hole in finances over the next 20 years.

Allan Bowman, chairman of advisory body the Social Care Institute for Excellence, told the BBC there was wide variation in the cost and quality of care.

"We've got to end this postcode lottery in social care and we've got to find a way of achieving a national approach, that ensures people get the best quality of care at whatever fair price can be achieved," he said.

BBC NEWS | Health | 'Care insurance' planned for old

[crazy dog]

If they had not encouraged over a million lazy bastards onto long term disability allowance in order to make the unemployment figures look better there would be a few billion quid a year spare to pay for the elderly. I lived on an estate where every other household was on disability and the local GP told me much of his time was spent processing claims for it. In the news this week was the statistic that over one million had been on unemployment benefit (same people and not on DB) ever since labour came to power in 1997. Now they have the nerve to tell people who have worked and paid NI all there lives, sorry not enough for you unless you cough up all over again. Bloody disgrace.

[crippen]

Bet the Government will take the money,then when the time comes,it will all have disappeared. We have a scheme already:It is National Insurance.That is skint now.

[blackgang]

I thought that you guys had cradle to grave med coverage on your socalist med plan.
Sounds like maybe Obama had something to do with setting that shit up..

[BillyBobThai]

BlackGang, like you I will never go back to the states as long as that black bastard is in office. It makes me sick to see his face smiling on tv. He is f**king
us all and he loves it. I have been over here 5 yrs and another 4 yrs will put me in the same position as the person who started this thread. Can not go back home , because home does not exist any more. Sad oh so sad.

[Happyman]

The whole system stinks !

You had to pay all your working life into the system that was promoted as the 'be all, and end all' of worries when you retire.
WORRALOADOFBOLLOCKS

It was intended to give social security and free health care after you retired.
The social security part has gone down the tubes as it now makes huge payments to illegal immigrants and there is f*ckall left for a decent pension for those who have paid for these payments !

NHS?
Forget it !
If I go back to the UK now ( with a medical problem and only a UK national pension ) It is impossible.
Although I have lived outside the UK for 40 years and paid my National Insurance contributions all the time ( as advised by the NI office before I left ) I now find that if I go back for treatment, as an overseas resident - although I am fully paid up- I will have to wait 6 weeks before I can register with a UK doctor and then I have to go on a waiting bloody list !!!
Probably survive a week on my monthly pension !!
Rant over

[SiLeakHunt]

Brits have been sold down the river good style, properly fucked over. The pots been given away to fuckwits from other countries. etc etc etc everyone knows what's happened we've just got to cover our own arses.