Going into a care home? to pay or not to pay..?

perhaps we should consider killing off those who can't pay for their care

I would much rather die with a bit of dignity than go into a home. This is my personal opinion. I don't view life in a nursing home as worth living. If I can't look after myself and my family can't care for me then I shall be opting out.

I am sure that some people like living in their old peoples homes but I spent a summer working in one when I was a student and it looked like the seventh circle of hell to me.

MissAnneElk

It is an insurance scheme.

Those who cannot afford to pay for care because they have no assets will continue to get it free.

If you have assets, you can pay an INSURANCE premium of £8000 when you retire. They say only 1 in 5 will take it up.

That means they have £40k, plus the interest earned (which will be a lot over the intervening years), to spend on care for each person who needs it - if their 1 in 5 assumption holds.

If you don't need care you don't get the £8000 back - just like you don't get house insurance back if your house isn't burgled this year.

I can't see how the tory proposition of a one of payment of £8000 is going to work. If residential care costs between £21000 to £53000 per year (and I don't know the cost, I'm just basing it on what alypaly says and she has some personal experience)then that £8000 is going to need a lot of topping up.

I'd love to be able to leave our house to our DDs, but the reality is that if we need to use it to fund our care then I think we should. It's unlikely we will have any hard cash to leave them. I suspect that will have to be frittered away supplementing our shit pension.

I suppose we could tell the DDs if they look after us, then they can have the house. I'd hope they'd choose to put us in a nice home with the proceeds of the house and make their own way in life.

It seems like madness to me that people expect to keep their homes and get the state to pay for their care. Your assets are money that you have earned and they should be used to pay for your upkeep however you choose to do that.

The state is there as a safety net to help those in need and protect the vulnerable not as a way to protect peoples inheritance.

Perhaps more people should look after their own families if they want the money from the estate.

Yet DH and I have always 'worked hard' and 'scrimped'. And I'm not here moaning about how 'unfair' it all is.

That's life!

'So who is going to pay for you or your parents care if you need it??'

My parents are going to pay for their own care. They live in a country (the US) where you have to or you face a very grim reality.

They have ensured they can pay for their own care for a very very long time. We, my sister and I, do not see their finances or assets in terms of something to leave to ourselves upon their deaths. They gave us much in our lives. We want them to use all their resources on themselves.

I will likely die in penury, hopefully before needing nursing care, if I live to any old age at all. May chose to end my own life before such an event if it is possible.

So, you're willing to pay higher taxes for a more 'fair' system?

'People come in from other countries and do not have a penny to their names and have contributed nothing to this country. Yet they come in,suffer ill health,use our NHS system and then get free nursing home places that we pay for.'

How? Under what visa? Because if you are not an EU/EEA national, then you need a visa to come and live here.

Or are you talking about EU nationals? Because if you are, there are actually more elderly Brits emigrating to EU nations, particularly the warmer ones, and causing strain on their resources, having never contributed to their economies.

That's part of being in the EU.

Hmmm. IMHO, if you can support yourself, you do. If you can't then the State helps out. If you can pay for care, then presumably you get more choice. There will be the few that HAVE cash and don't put any aside so they get an unfair freeby when they are old (but how many people are genuinely like this?)

My colleagues in Belgium tell me that apparently if you have not made suitable provision for your old age, the cost/debt of residential care stays with the family down to the 2nd generation ie your grand kids would still be paying the bill. I don't know the ins and outs of this. I think many more families look after the elderly themselves.

Interestingly, the Flemish region has introduced an extra "tax" - every working person must pay an extra 25 euros into the pot each year to pay for care at home services for the elderly and disabled. This is very unpopular.

'I would just like to see a system which is fair to everyone.'

And you're willing to pay higher taxes to realise that?

Because that's what it's going to take.

Life isn't fair. It's best to get over that notion.

'I believe the government should of course provide for those that have little money or property to sell. But I also think that those that have property to sell shouldn't have to.'

So, you're willing to pay higher taxes to fund this?

Because I don't know about you but we're stretched here.

And I don't see why I should have to pay more to protect your inheritance.

I certainly wouldn't expect someone else to subsidise any inheritance I get through higher taxes on themselves.

let me throw this one in and its something i feel strongly about. People come in from other countries and do not have a penny to their names and have contributed nothing to this country. Yet they come in,suffer ill health,use our NHS system and then get free nursing home places that we pay for. Yet our parents who have contributed everything(the war,NI yadda yadda) saved for their retirement and to enhance their families lives...have everything they have earned and saved taken off them. Why is it in this situation that those who have nothinh come off best.

Moral off this is dont ever save and sign your home over to your children before you become ill and need a home.

Sorry, I missed quotation marks:
'But I also think that those that have property to sell shouldn't have to. In saying this I am thinking of my own parents who have a very modest house and savings (very working class folkes) who have scrimped and saved all their lives to provide for me and my brother and would love to leave us their house when they are gone.'

But I also think that those that have property to sell shouldn't have to. In saying this I am thinking of my own parents who have a very modest house and savings (very working class folkes) who have scrimped and saved all their lives to provide for me and my brother and would love to leave us their house when they are gone.

MILLIONS of us 'work hard' and 'scrimp' and will never have the means to buy a house. We can work all the hours God sends and it will never happen.

But that's okay as long as you get the money from your parents' house?

That's 'fair'.

Having an asset like a house to sell to pay for care gives you choice.

Ever tried to get quality nursing care if you're indigent?

My father worked hard, but he admits he got very lucky - the economic climate in which he spent most of his adult working life (he was born in 1936) allowed him to realise a much greater profit in many ways than a man doing the same job he did now.

He makes no bones about it, the point was to provide him and his wife with a good retirement, not to enrich us with inheritance.

And I couldn't agree more! It is money I did nothing to earn and, as his POA in the case of my mother's death, my sister and I plan to ensure he gets the best his money can buy to enjoy in his life, even down to the last penny.

Well, that's more or less the problem - we can't leave people stuck if they need care and have no money. But with the ageing population, we also can't afford to pay for everyone.

So at some point, we have to draw a line and say; if you have more than X, you have to contribute to the cost... it's a question of where X is, surely?

Most people don't last more than 2 years in a nursing home

onebadbaby - weren't you the person who felt that children with SN get an unfair amount of attention in schools compared to NT kids? Must be exhausting worrying that other people are getting more than you all the time.

onebadbaby, what would you propose we do about elderly folks who have no money, but need to go into care?

Thing is, I don't think living in rented accommodation is 'squandering your money', really, do you?

if i had had a carer in for all the hours i was awake each day looking after my mum, which was on average 20 hours a day for 7 months it would have cost a fortune in care...approx £15 an hour.£300 a day to care for my poor mum. i did my best for her til i collapsed and then there was noone to pick up the pieces.

then i ended up on the sick after caring for her. sick pay and two children...doesnt add up.