Long-term Care for the Elderly - A Revelation
Monday, 12 May 2008 by saba7saba7
Government Health Secretary Alan Johnson admitted today that there will likely be a £6 billion shortfall in money earmarked towards long-term care for the elderly. Such a huge figure will likely accrue as our current system of ‘Free Healthcare for All’ (Scotland take note!) buckles under he strain of an aging population.
Gord. Brooon, aka The Man for All Taxes, will announce a 6 month public consultation on the issue of funding for long term care of the elderly, headlined by Alan Johnson, later today. In his speech, Our Gord will restate his intention to give the elderly more say over how their money is spent on care:
“We know too many people fear the prospect of selling their homes and using assets which otherwise they would pass on to family members and friends [to pay for care in old age] … We can, and must, look to give people the opportunity and the support to save for their old age in a way which insures them and protects their houses and their inheritance.”
All this despite deliberately seeking to eliminate the 7 year inheritance tax-free gift loophole that will ensnare further ill-gotten gains for his government to plunder and waste. Yet again the PM will say one thing, whilst his policies and track record display an all too familiar antithetical stance.
In a nice critique of the Government’s proposals and the current system, John Redwood MP, reviews the choices open to elderly and raises the dreaded spectre of devolution as a possible source of embarrassment for the Government.
Let us hope that the 6 month consultation stimulates some genuinely innovative solutions to the imminent funding crisis. The current system of means-testing and different policies for the tax-paying majority south of the border, cannot continue to be justified.
Whatever the merits of free healthcare provision, we seriously need to examine the ethical and moral implications for society of our continued failure to look after the elderly properly. Why can more not be done to encourage relatives, by way of tax breaks and other economic carrot policies, to bear the burden of responsibility for their elderly relatives? Incentivisng family paliative care not only has economic benefits, but untold societal advantagess to boot.
