The new Health and Care Bill is deeply unfair

From: Stephen Hardy, George Close, Robertsbridge
The government is proposing changes to care home payment formulaeThe government is proposing changes to care home payment formulae
The government is proposing changes to care home payment formulae

On Monday night, only Conservative MPs voted for the sneaked through formula on personal care costs in the Health and Care Bill. Amongst them were our two local MPs, Huw Merriman and Sally Ann Hart, whereas 19 of their own colleagues had the courage to recognise the formula, only included last Friday to avoid scrutiny, was deeply unfair.

Putting a simple Bexhill example forward, it would mean that the older person who could only afford to have bought the one bedroom retirement flat on sale on De La Warr Parade for £65000, would see 100% of the proceeds of sale of that flat go to paying their care costs.

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Contrast that with the similar person able to have afforded the detached house on Collington Lane West at £1.2 million, that person’s estate would see only 7% of the proceeds of sale going to paying care costs.

In a so-called ‘levelling up’ world, Boris Johnson says we are aiming for, it looks to me that those on the up go even further upwards, and those at the bottom, even further downwards.

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