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Elderly care cap empowers people and manages risk says social entrepreneur
The Governments plan to cap care bills for the elderly by underwriting all costs above £50,000 have been enthusiastically welcomed by social entrepreneur Robert Ashton.
“Big Society is about managing risk, empowering people and enabling care providers to plan. This scheme does exactly that – at no real cost to the tax payer,” said Mr Ashton, who acts as a Big Society trouble-shooter and consultant.
Care Minister Paul Burstow is expected to release a white paper announcing his elderly care plans this autumn. He has already said that he intends to require each council with social care responsibilities to have an adult safeguarding board.
“This is exactly the kind of underwriting a responsible Government puts in place – it’s not going to cost them very much and it will deliver huge peace of mind,” said Mr Ashton.
The £50K translates as the average cost of two years residential care. A survey by the London School of Economics of BUPA owned care homes found that the average stay of 11,565 elderly people was 801 days which at £550 per week is £62,936.
However, half had died within 462 days and only 27% lived longer than three years.
“Accepting that most will pay some sort of an insurance premium, payable to government, to cover the £50k, the scheme will actually cost very little as early deaths will compensate for those that live longer,” said Mr Ashton.
Opponents of the scheme say that many elderly people will still be forced to sell their family homes especially if both the husband and wife have to go into a care home and have to find £100,000. A quarter of all pensioners require no care at all.
“The UK’s ageing population means that society is unable to pick up the entire cost. The important thing is that care providers can plan sensible provision,” said Mr Ashton.
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