Will I Benefit from the New Cap on Long Term Care Costs?
There has been much discussion surrounding the new cap imposed on long term care costs for the elderly and those who are in need of long term care. So, for those awaiting the cap, the results have been at least a little disappointing, as the portion of consumers who may benefit from the new cap is quite low.
Government officials have now officially released what they feel to be the proportion of consumers that will actually benefit from the new cap imposed on long term care costs. This number is estimated to be only 1 in every 8 consumers. This means that the new cap will really only benefit one out of every 8 consumers who are using long term care. Furthermore, it seems that the number is actually expected to get much worse over the next few years. In fact, by time the new cap imposed on long term care costs has been in effect for a full 10 years, it is estimated that only 1 out of 200 consumers will actually qualify for the benefit.
There are reasons why the effects of the new limit are not as widespread as was originally hoped. The cap had previously been expected to be the biggest piece of the overall overhaul of the social care system. However, this cap was really set at a limit that only enabled it to have very limited effects. It was set in a way that only helped those consumers who were already in a mode of crisis. It will benefit those consumers who were already at the brink of being unable to pay for their long term care costs.
For those who are forced to pay for their own long term care, the new cap that had been being discussed seemed like it would be a much bigger help than it is proving to be as of right now. With so many predictions limiting the actual benefits of the new cap imposed on long term care costs, many consumers are now realizing that the cap may not be as big of a help to them as they had predicted or hoped. That being said, it is worth every consumer’s energy to seek out their local authority to see if there is, in fact, any help available to them to help offset the costs of their long term care needs.