[lit-ideas] Re: Right to Life, Right to Die

  • From: Judy Evans <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 23:25:23 +0000

Thursday, March 24, 2005, 10:58:44 PM, Veronica Caley wrote:


VC> On another related note, there was a recent case of an older gentlemen
VC> whose wife was in a nursing home.  He had spent down their estate to ha=
lf.
VC> At that time he asked Medicaid to take over so that he would have money=
 for
VC> a decent existence.  The case ultimately went to the Supreme Court which
VC> ruled that he had to spend all of it on the nursing care of his wife.  =
So,
VC> one gets very infirm and the other is pauperized.

It's similar here: I could have ended up homeless.  Luckily the
Cardiff Social Services people were prepared to set this house (it was
my mother's) against costs without trying to recoup them so long as I
lived here, and also promised me that whatever happened my mother
could stay in the nursing home we chose. (And the Welsh Assembly paid
=A3100 a week towards the costs.)  Still, it can be rough.

There's an Ombudsman's ruling that will mean more people who have to
go into nursing homes will get the fees paid by local councils (if
they have to go there for medical reasons, then the fees should be
paid), so things will get better.

VC> I think most middle class people in this country who have saved all the=
ir
VC> lives to have a decent existence in their old age are not aware of how
VC> close they are to being impoverished.  Sometimes I think the 'spend it =
as
VC> fast as you get it' crowd might have been psychic or just smarter.

The people over the road gave (sold?!) their house to their children
(but share it with them) and intend having less than the threshold
amount so the state *has* to pay for them. I'm a bit risk averse (but
also haven't much money...), ?


VC>   Nursing
VC> home insurance for people of our age is out of the question.  It's very
VC> expensive, doesn't cover until after the first ninety days and I don't
VC> trust them.  If the burden gets too big, they will declare bankruptcy.

Ah.  It's expensive here but is apparently safer


Some people here have used Dignitas. Living wills have common law
force -- and I can't see any government going backwards on that -- but
they and the case law don't cover every eventuality.


--=20

                             mailto:judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx


------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html

Other related posts:

  1. Home
  2. lit-ideas
  3. Archive
  4. 03-2005