Older people should not have to pay more for care, says Age Action

Groups representing older people say they will oppose any attempt to increase the financial contribution by users of the Fair Deal nursing home scheme.

Age Action said the scheme was already fundamentally unfair, as no other section of society had to pay from their income, assets and home value towards their care.

It was responding to proposals by the Department of Health that could see applicants for Fair Deal having to pay more towards their care.

An unpublished review lists a number of options for improving the funding of the scheme, including increasing the State contribution or making those in nursing homes pay more.

Under one option, the level of assets discounted in the means test (€36,000) could be reduced, RTÉ's Prime Time reported. Alternatively, the cap on the assets to be contributed could increase from 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent.

It is also suggested older people should contribute to community services through a charge on their estate after they die.

Age Action head of advocacy Eamon Timmins said the scheme already causes hardship for older people. "The range of increased charges proposed by the document suggests a lack of understanding of the inequity of the scheme and that a belief that this inequity can be increased further – that older people who are sick and frail are a resource to be tapped time and again," he said.

Alone chief executive Sean Moynihan said Fair Deal was not looking "particularly fair any more". Asking older people to pay more was the easy way compared to reforming the system.

Increasing people’s contribution to the scheme could lead to cases of elder abuse, he warned. “Lifting the cap will result in a larger contribution being taken from the older person’s estate when they die. This could result in some families being less likely to put older relatives into nursing home care when they need it.”