Long Term Care Cost - A Social Issue in the UK By Shim Aquino At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Long Term Care cost is one of social issues today in the UK. If you have paid taxes, you naturally expect the state to look after you. Only problem is, health service wants to care more for the sick, not the elderly who aren’t. Local authorities have closed and sold care homes, cottage hospitals, and hospices and preferred to pay private care and nursing homes to look after the elderly because what central government wants the local authorities to do for the aged is more than what it can pay for. Long term care cost is one issue where extensive studies are being made to make projections of demand for the long-term care for older people under clearly specified assumptions.

The state neither gives you choice. Residential care homes are often too far away for family and friends to visit. Rural folks may be forced to live in a city, or vice versa. Neither do you have a say whether you go into a home or get care at home. You may also think that, as you are not rich, so would be supported. Sadly, the limits are very low. Long term care cost is still shouldered by one out of three people in care.

If you own your own home and/or have some savings, you will be expected to pay for your own care in residential care homes. Local authorities now have systems in place to forcibly sell your home from under you, if you are taken into care, to pay for the long term care cost. These hide under the less threatening name of Local Authority equity release schemes.

The really bad news is that long term care cost is high and climbing. The average annual fee for residential care homes is £18,420. Where a nursing home is needed, the average cost is £25,552 a year. Fees in recent years have also been well exceeding inflation.

The Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) at the London School of Economics and the Nuffield Community Care Studies Unit (NCCSU) at the University of Leicester prepared updated projections of future long-term care cost for older people in the UK to 2051. The study investigated three external factors that are important drivers of the demand for spending on long-term care: life expectancy, dependency and unit costs. The results showed that introducing free personal care would have no effect for the lowest income group as current funding arrangements already meet almost all their costs and they only contribute to 'hotel' services. The middle income group would see a small rise in the share of their fees met from public sources. Residents in the highest income group would see their share of fees reduced from 89 to 48 per cent. For nursing home care, the reduction would be from 69 to 34 per cent.

The present situation sees the elderly paying for their own care and long term care companies are better suited to provide for their care, notwithstanding the long-term care cost involved.

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