Dementia Tax

The Alzheimer's Society position paper on charging for care relating to dementia http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=1069 is very clear about the financial impact on elderly people with dementia.


"Charging for care affects people with dementia and their carers more than older people with other medical conditions and amounts to a 'dementia tax'. In addition, people with dementia and their carers are paying for services that often do not deliver good quality care."

Dementia is a physical disease of the brain, yet it is not regarded systematically as a health issue and therefore the responsibility of the NHS. Rather it is treated as a 'sign of ageing' and therefore as a social care issue with needs to be met by Social Services and so subject to means testing.

This is not just about who pays, it is also about a system designed to relegate and minimise the real needs of people with dementia - to create as the Society says a double layer of discrimination. This sees people paying for their care stemming from their illness and not having access to relevant care anyway - apart from in a few englightened, positive (and expensive) nursing homes specialising in dementia.

The lucky few can pay for the care they require 'at the point of need' - the majority, despite having through National Insurance contributions paid for a National Health Service, are denied health care 'free at the point of delivery' and are left to pay for their own care.