End this state robbery

Jul 5 2009 by Ken Oxley, Sunday Sun

On the face of it, Labour’s big idea smacks of desperation . . . after all, Gordon Brown needs a small miracle to avert the predicted Tory landslide at the next election.

We’ll know the finer details of the proposal next week when the Government sets out its initial thinking in a Green Paper on long-term care.

I’ll reserve full judgment until then. But if yesterday’s article is accurate and the plan does what it says on the tin, it might just be Labour’s magic bullet.

The Tories don’t have any answers . . . their instinct is to leave people to fend for themselves.

Yet the current system - which is little short of state-sponsored robbery - is crying out for change.

At present, the National Health Service provides free health care to everyone with the exception of those in care homes, most of whom have dementia.

In other words, you’ll get help if any of your major organs malfunctions unless it’s the brain, in which case you’re on your own.

That means if you’re among the estimated 700,000 people in the UK with dementia, you stand to lose everything you’ve worked for and your family can kiss goodbye to any inheritance you planned to leave them.

How can any civilised society regard that as fair?

At least Labour recognises this great injustice and has put the issue on the political agenda.

None of us are getting any younger, so this is an issue which has the potential to affect all our lives.

If Labour’s plan is workable, it might just be the ticket to a fourth term.