Letter: Who should pay for care of the elderly?
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: The usual combination of tireless lobbying and a pending election has finally provoked the Government to take seriously the plight of elderly people forced to impoverish themselves to pay for long-term care ("Pension deal aims to protect assets", 8 May).
The brief debate in the House of Commons regrettably, but predictably, became a "tax on the elderly" knockabout with all the usual arguments about which party costs the taxpayer less. Unless we are proposing to deny care to the elderly and frail - the logical conclusion to the low- tax argument - then the big question is not "do we pay for care" but "how do we pay for care?"
The Government states categorically that the responsibility for financing care lies with individuals, yet by encouraging those same individuals to insure themselves for care costs, they implicitly accept that a collective approach is both fairer and more efficient.
Insurance, after all, is based on the principle of pooling risk and sharing cost, rather than assuming a potentially catastrophic risk on one's own.
The coming decades will see the ratio of people of retirement age to those of working age rise significantly. Such a shift requires a serious debate now if we are not to experience both a public expenditure and a care crisis in the future.
Archy Kirkwood MP
(Roxburgh and
Berwickshire, Lib Dem)
House of Commons
London SW1
The writer is Community Care spokesman for the Liberal Democrats
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments