UK Ministers propose subsidizing some homecare costs

The government may be stepping in to allow older people in the UK to keep their retirement living residences and maintain medical care provisions by subsidizing the costs of long-term care.


Ministers are looking at several options, including an insurance plan that would be paid throughout one's career, or a one-time payment by retirees that would pay for a fraction of the cost while the government handles the remainder of care-based expenses, according to the Daily Telegraph.


Forty percent of seniors currently pay their own way if they wish to receive long-term care, and up to 45,000 people had to sell their homes to pay for those costs, reported the news provider.


A one-time 12,000 pound levy would be equivalent to one-quarter of what seniors currently pay each year for services, according to the Daily Express.


"It would be a social insurance scheme and a way of people sharing the risk and the cost of care," Stephen Burke, Counsel and Care chief executive, told the news provider.

"We are facing a massive funding shortfall at the moment."


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