Nursing home residents would pay some of the cost through sale of home orassets after their deaths
Martin Wall
The Government's new package on long-term care for older people, to be announced on Monday, will feature a scheme under which residents in nursing homes would pay some of the cost involved through funding generated by the sale of their home or assets after their deaths.
The Irish Times understands that the Government has moved away from proposals that older people should be required to enter into equity-release arrangements to sell portions of the value of their assets while they are still alive.
Government sources indicated this weekend that under the new package no one going into a nursing home will have to sell their property to finance their care.
However, it is understood that under the new scheme persons in long-term care will be required to pay a percentage of the costs themselves. One option will be to enter into an arrangement under which part of the bill will be met from the estate of the resident after their death.
The new package, to be unveiled by the Minister for Health Mary Harney, will also involve the establishment of enhanced rates for State subventions for nursing home care.
An additional €85 million has been allocated in the year ahead to finance the new enhanced subvention package.
For the first time there will also be a national means test for eligibility for nursing home subvention payments. Up to now, different criteria for qualification for subvention applied in different parts of the country.
At present the Government funds 90 per cent of the cost of care in public nursing homes, with individuals asked for 80 per cent of their old-age pension. However, sometimes those in private nursing homes have to fund their care entirely from their own resources, unless they get a subvention.
These bills can run to several hundred euro per week and some older people have had to sell their houses to fund their care.
Ms Harney is also expected to announce on Monday that there will be new national standards for nursing homes. These new standards will apply to all homes, whether in the public or private sectors.
Standards in public nursing homes will be inspected for the first time. The moves are aimed at removing distinctions between nursing homes operated by the State and those run by the private sector.
Ms Harney is expected to argue that the changes will not impact negatively on anyone currently in a nursing home.
She is expected to say that the Government plan will bring greater clarity, equity and fairness to the system.
An internal Government report earlier this year suggested that older people availing of long-term care should have to make a significant contribution towards the cost.
With the number of people aged over 65 set to double between now and 2036, it warned of a huge increasing burden on the State.
The inter-departmental report forecast that total spending, both public and private, on residential care for those aged 65 and over will increase from €900 million this year to €6.8 billion in 2051.
This report suggested that the State could ask people to pay about 80 per cent of the cost of their care.