§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to help the families of disabled people who sell their(a) homes and (b) other assets to meet the costs of long-term care; [29064]
477W(2) what assessment he has made as to how partnership schemes in the United States provide insurance against the costs of long-term care for disabled people; [29062]
(3) what are the current arrangements for means testing disabled people when establishing how much they should contribute to the costs of their long-term care; [29035]
(4) what discussions he has had with representatives from the insurance industry regarding the development of immediate needs annuities designed for disabled people wishing to insure against the costs of long-term care; [29030]
(5) what plans he has to meet representatives of (a) the insurance industry and (b) organisations representing disabled people to discuss how best disabled people can insure against the costs of long-term care; and what steps he has taken to canvass the opinion of disabled groups regarding the consultation paper "A New Partnership for Care in Old Age;" [29034]
(6) what plans the Government have for helping disabled people insure against the costs of long-term care in the event that the insurance industry does not provide insurance schemes designed specifically for disabled people. [29063]
§ Mr. BowisThe consultation paper "A New Partnership for Care in Old Age" sets out the Government's proposals for helping people to make better provision for the costs of long-term care through greater flexibility in pension provision and through a partnership scheme. The proposals are likely to be of most interest to those who need care in old age, but people who need long-term care at a younger age may also be able to benefit from them.
The partnership scheme would enable people to protect more of their assets from the means test for residential care arranged by local authorities. The means test does not make any distinction between the various client groups, such as elderly or disabled people, in assessing ability to contribute to the cost of residential care.
It is proposed that the scheme would be open not only to those who take out long-term care indemnity insurance, as in the United States schemes, but also to those who take out immediate needs annuities. It would therefore potentially be of benefit to those whose condition meant that they could obtain insurance only for a very high premium, if at all.
As the consultation paper makes clear, the terms on which indemnity insurance and annuities are offered are a matter for the insurance and annuity providers themselves to determine—subject, when the relevant provisions have been commenced, to the Disability Discrimination Act.
We welcome comments on our proposals, by 14 June, from all interested parties.
§ Mr. CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many disabled people at present are insured against the costs of long-term care using an indemnity insurance scheme. [29032]
§ Mr. DenhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the total public cost of a partnership scheme, in accordance with(a) paragraph 9.6 and (b) paragraph 9.7 of "A New Partnership for Care in Old Age" assuming an individual achieves total asset protection by purchasing £30,000 of care insurance, requires five years of care and exhausts their insurance entitlement in (i) one year, (ii) two years, (iii) three years and (iv) four years with the remaining years of care being provided by a local authority at a cost of £12,500 per annum, to which the individual contributes £2,000 per annum. [29521]