To think that if you have the funds to pay for your care home needs then you absoloutley should?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Interesting chat with a friend the other day about the extortionate costs of care homes and how if you live in social housing/rental and are on benefits then the government will pay for your care yet if you have "worked hard all your life and want to leave something for your kids" you are made to sell your home / use savings to pay for your care.

Friend is of the opinion that everyone who requires a care home should have it paid for by the government. So essentially a "hand out" yet also is of the opinion that those on benefits are getting "hand outs" and looks on them with scorn.

My personal opinion is that if you have the means to fund your own care home needs then yes; you absoloutley should pay for some or all of that. Why should the government fork out millions for every care home resident in the country so that a vast amount of them can then hand their properties and extensive savings down to their children?

It's simply not viable to fund 100% of care home needs across the country and if you are the kind of person who gets smug about "paying my way all my life" to the tune of living mortgage free in a 300k plus home with vast savings then you should be happy to continue "paying your way" til the end.

I also pointed out to her that as she will be funding her own care she will likely have more say in where she goes.

The end result was we both agreed the best solution was to swerve the care home altogether but I wondered whether I was BU to expect someone who can afford to pay for their care to actually pay for their care?

Why should care?Some of it is nursing care.

It’s only nursing care for some people some of the time. The vast majority is social care.

It is barbaric if you have loved that home for years and want the proceeds to go to your children, having worked for that all your life

You can’t get a long retirement, hugely expensive care and the inheritance to pass on. Not affordable, something has to give.

Plenty can afford to save but choose not to.

And plenty more than that never got the opportunities to save.

Can we quit pretending that those who end up asset rich on retirement achieved that by scrimping and saving?

The vast majority got rich on the back of crazy house price inflation. All they did was ride the wave

Nothing is wrenched or snatched. You can be as dramatic with language as you like, but old age shouldn't exempt you from paying your bills. If we want to live so long and have millions of people living well over 75 for years with multiple co-morbidities then
those are the rules. And knowing the rules if you choose to save and those savings end up being spent, that's the gamble you take.
Nothing will persuade me that people should be able to hold onto hundreds of thousands of pounds of assests and expect a cash strapped society with public services on their knees to fund their care, just so they can pass money on.

Who do you think should pay? The young families coming up who’ll never afford to get on the property ladder at all? Yes that sounds fair

And plenty of older people haven't 'worked all their lives,' My MIL is nudging 80 and gave up work at 24 to raise her DC. She didn't go back when they'd grown. There are millions like her.

Yes old age shouldn’t make you exempt from paying your bills. Everybody should be paying the minute they start work. Money taken by the state for old age first, money left over for holidays and fripperies second.

The obsession with passing assets down the generations has never made sense to me. You pay your way as much in old age as in the rest of your life and if there’s anything left over your kids get it. Mine are well aware that if we need to pay care home fees, there may not be much left.

Hate to remind people but the money of the elderly is theirs, younger generations don’t have an automatic right to it.

If others get their care paid for so should everybody and others should definitely not be paying more for the same care just because they saved.

I will never go into a home and have my house taken off me. It’s going to my dc end of.

As a nation everybody needs to start paying for their old age, not a few, everybody.

Everybody should be paying the minute they start work. Money taken by the state for old age first, money left over for holidays and fripperies second.

Well that wasn’t implemented, so what do we do in the meantime?

In fairness, those funding their retirement now probably never realised they’d live so long.

Hate to remind people but the money of the elderly is theirs, younger generations don’t have an automatic right to it.

Which flies in the face of everything you’ve argued so far.

Hate to remind people but the money of the elderly is theirs, younger generations don’t have an automatic right to it.

No ones saying they have a right to it.

But they shouldn’t be paying more tax so that the retired generation get a lovely long retirement, plus hugely expensive care, plus an inheritance to pass on. That’s ridiculously unjust.

and others should definitely not be paying more for the same care just because they saved.

Most of them probably didn’t save. They sat back and watched their property make a small fortune for them.

Thiss living longer are iller/ more disabled and need nursing care. Not sure why free nursing for everybody on the NHS is ok, in a care home not ok.

Not everybody, I certainly didn’t. Those in their 50s didn’t.

If everyone got their care paid for the system would collapse simply because of the sheer volume of numbers. Many years ago it might have been a nice sentiment, but it's just not realistic anymore. Modern medicine has decided that for us. And older people's money should be spent on them, first and foremost. Absolutely. So when the need for a carehome arises then the rainy day has actually arrived and there should be no issue with using it as intended. By that stage, there'll be no opportunity for holidays or 'fripperies' anyway.

living longer are iller/ more disabled and need nursing care. Not sure why free nursing for everybody on the NHS is ok, in a care home not ok.

The quirks of the system don’t really matter. The NHS has no extra resource to take more on, without increasing the tax burden, so what do you suggest?

If you get dementia you may not get a say what's happens to your house. I've been nursing 30 years and seen it many times. But good luck.

I've come late to this party, but will agree with all those who say why should some people get away with barely working all their lives and spending, spending, spending, have their care paid for by the rest of us, while others pay for their own care using the money they've worked bloody hard for all their lives, often in jobs they loathe. Not fair at all.

while others pay for their own care using the money they've worked bloody hard for all their lives, often in jobs they loathe.

What about those who worked hard all their lives but were never in a position to amass assets?

What about those who couldn’t stay in the workforce because of illness or disability?

If you reach retirement with substantial assets, you’ve had a reasonable lot in life and plenty of advantages.

People are living very long lives. Society cannot give everyone free long term care. If you can afford to pay you do. Those are the rules. Knowing the rules everyone makes a choice, takes a gamble as to whether to spend or save. If your savings end up spent on care then that's a result of the choices you made, otherwise get spending.
The other option is to be less proactive in curing illness and disease and prolonging life at all costs.

LooseMoose how will you avoid it? Stay in your home and not go into care? Your dc looking after you if needs be

I wonder how much do you think everyone would have to pay in to cover all the care

Alsohuman - where do you draw the line between health care and social care? What do you define as Social care?

I have no objection to people being expected to find their own care if they can. I do object to self funding residents being charged much higher fees than local authority funded residents with no difference in provision. My Dad pays £320 A WEEK more than the council pays for the same provision in the same care home