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cost of long term care for the elderly. It’s
the issue politicians try to avoid. Yet it’s a real worry. Care homes
for loved ones can cost families more than £400
a week. People are forced to sell homes their
parents worked hard to buy. With Kingston house
prices so high this destroys a family’s
savings.
Worse, it’s a complete
lottery. It could be you whose relative
ends up needing care. It could be you who
pays.
There is private insurance for
this risk, but premiums are too high for most
people.
So what should policy be?
In 1997 Mr.Blair set up a Royal
Commission under Sir Stewart Sutherland.
Sutherland divided costs into 3 areas: nursing
care, personal care and accommodation. It
recommended the State pay for nursing and
personal care, with individuals paying for
accommodation.
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Unfortunately,
Ministers and the Conservative Opposition
rejected this. They both argue the State should
only pay for "nursing care" - narrowly
defined. They say the extra £800 million for the
Commission’s recommendations is too much. So the lottery continues. People with
dementia and Alzheimer’s forced to pay for
care that others get free in NHS hospitals. A
stealth tax on old age.
Yet, as the Commission showed,
it is cheaper and fairer for society to
insure against the risk that you or your relative
might need long term care.
Having seen the damage this
lottery does to local families, I helped persuade
my party to adopt the Royal Commission’s
findings. Liberal Democrats running the new
Scottish Government have fought for and won free
long term care for the elderly. We must now win
the fight in England and Wales.
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