Posted on 12/10/2007 9:54:44 PM PST by CutePuppy
Elderly to get personal care cash
Monday, 10 December 2007
Elderly people in England are to be given cash to fund their own social care, the health secretary has said.
From April, millions of pensioners will be handed control over how the money is spent, rather than relying on social workers to make the decisions.
Alan Johnson, who officially announced the scheme on Monday, said it was a "radical transfer of power from the state to the public".
Younger disabled people could also be allocated a "personal budget" for care.
Councils will be given £520m over three years to improve services.
"Everyone, irrespective of their illness or disability has the right to self-determination and maximum control over their own lives" Alan Johnson Health Secretary
A revolution in social care?
Individuals will be means-tested to assess their health and personal needs, and councils will then pay the cash into their bank accounts or those of nominated relatives.
According to the government, the changes are designed to create more competition among care agencies.
Mr Johnson said: "Our commitment that the majority of social care funding will be controlled by individuals, though personal budgets represents a radical transfer of power from the state to the public.
"Everyone, irrespective of their illness or disability has the right to self-determination and maximum control over their own lives."
'Real control'
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the measures would give "real control" to individuals.
"These proposals for personal budgets will allow all those who would benefit from a personal budget to receive one, putting real control into the hands of those in care and their carers, leading to far more personal and responsive care."
"This should only be the first step in a complete revolution in healthcare in which local communities hold health managers accountable through the ballot box " Nick Clegg Liberal Democrat
Chairman of the Local Government Association Sir Simon Milton described the change as a "landmark agreement" and said it "should provide the foundation to give people independence, choice and dignity over their lives."
He added: "Given the pressures arising from an ageing population and rising expectations, we are pleased the government has also recognised that change comes at a price.
"The new grant for social care reform will go some way to enable councils to move towards a more personalised and preventative system of care."
But the plan did not go far enough for Liberal Democrat leadership contender Nick Clegg.
"This should only be the first step in a complete revolution in healthcare in which local communities hold health managers accountable through the ballot box, and every one of us is given real entitlements to high standard care wherever we live."
'Challenging'
However, campaign group Age Concern did welcome the scheme.
Director general Gordon Lishman said: "It is absolutely right to put older people's needs at the centre of the care system and to place a clear emphasis on preventive services.
"Older people and their families will continue to need information and support to help them negotiate the best care package at the best price with care providers.
"This will be challenging but we are sure it is something the government will want to address."
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I like it. How will they make sure it is spent on health care though?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
The elderly are what most of these social programs (outside of blatant communism) were originally designed for.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
bookmark
bookmark
The government takes all your money and then gives you an allowance? Sounds just peachy.
A trial, possibly, slowly moving from NHS to HSA model? Or else, letting the system go bankrupt. There’s only so much all-you-can-eat socialism in any area of human endeavor can be taken before bankruptcy ensues, or cutting certain groups from the buffet table, one by one, to great unhappiness for all.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
You too? I thought it was just me.
If you haven’t seen the movie / docudrama “The Deal” about Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, I highly recommend it.
Gordon Brown comes out as a somewhat pragmatic idealist (not of brainwashed idiot kind), so he actually wants this to “work” or he understands it as the end of Labour policies and therefore the “movement”.
A technical point, maybe, but this isn’t actually anything to do with the healthcare system, ie the NHS in the UK. This is Social Services funding, not healthcare funding, for what the bureaucracies define as the ‘personal needs’ of alderly and/or disabled people, which are treated as quite separate from their healthcare needs. Needless to say, this distinction leads to all sorts of confusions, especially in care for the elderly, whose personal and healthcare needs are often almost impossible to disentangle.
...though I do indeed have ancient relatives who live by rivers and tend to sway in the wind, this was a mistake...apologies
Just from a practical point: e.g. There will now be 50 decisions, some very innovative. One bad decision will now NOT affect 50 people. One bad decision will affect one person, or 10 bad decisions will affect 10 people. Power is not concentrated, but distributed. This is how God works with us I think.
Wait. Think this thru. What if they are given 100000 dollars of their money back and blow it all on gambling, tvs, cars, drugs etc and then get sick. Am I going to be required to pay twice? If they are on their own and responsible for their actions then I’m all for no safe guards. I don’t see that happening though.
What we can learn here is that socialists saw the need to let free market forces save their system from disaster. That is something!
My "flex spend" account account is pre-tax money that I have deducted from my paycheck. Typically $1200 per year. It is for qualified medical expenses. I have to send proper receipts to a company call Creative Benefits to have my claims vetted and my legitimate medical expenses reimbursed from that pre-tax allocation. Any money not claimed with legitimate receipts becomes the property of Creative Benefits at the end of the year. It is important to make a good estimate of what you think will be required to cover expenses. If you underestimate, you'll have to pay the difference from after-tax income. If you overestimate, the money not claimed is confiscated.
That approach works fairly well...as long as the vetting agency communicates how much has been paid, how much has been denied and how much reserve remains untapped. I lost $500 last year because a claim was denied, but that wasn't communicated in time to remedy the dispute.
There is a problem with flex accounts that they don’t tell you though. Most understand they have to use the money by a certain date or loose it but what I didn’t know was that the day I resigned , I only had 30 days to use the funds. I lost several hundred dollars.
Your employer (HR) really dropped the ball by not telling you about the 30 day limit on your funds. Ordinarily, you have until April 30th of the following year to submit all claims from the prior calendar year against the account balance collected in the prior year. Something sounds fishy about the way your funds were treated.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.