Older People’s Ombudsman questions proposal to charge care costs from estates

Finland’s Older People’s Ombudsman Päivi Topo has criticised a proposal to collect older people’s around-the-clock care costs from their estates after death, Yle reports.

Green Party MP Atte Harjanne and city councillor Suvi Pulkkinen proposed in Verde magazine that care costs should be charged from an estate when a person’s income is insufficient to cover the fees but they have substantial assets.

Topo questioned why older people’s assets should be targeted when the same principle is not applied elsewhere in social and healthcare services.

She referred to estimates that the daily cost of specialised medical care to society is more than twice that of around-the-clock care. She said there was no similar discussion about delaying access to the assets of people receiving expensive cancer treatments so that their homes or other property could later be sold to recover part of the cost.

Topo said she supported the current system, in which social and healthcare services are funded through tax revenue, fixed patient fees and income-based social welfare fees.

She said collecting care costs from assets, including an estate, would require a broad debate about which services should be funded through taxation.

“This is not a question concerning just one service. I find it difficult to understand why only older people should be subject to an arrangement in which their assets are effectively taken as collateral for care,” Topo said.

Costs have so far been controlled primarily by reducing the number of places in around-the-clock care. The focus has shifted towards home care, making it increasingly difficult to obtain a place in a care home.

Topo said more attention should be paid to supporting older people’s functional capacity. Municipalities and wellbeing services counties should make services widely available to help people maintain, for example, their ability to walk in old age.

She also said improved rehabilitation could reduce the number of people who need around-the-clock care. From the perspective of overall costs, she added, people who need care should receive a care-home place immediately rather than waiting for one in specialised medical care.