Vol. 517 No. 1
144 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to the fact that right of residence is assessed as means against a person who is in long-term stay in a private nursing home and the amount of nursing home subvention is reduced as a result; and if he will alter the regulations to disregard this form of means. [9222/00]
The Second Schedule to the Nursing Homes (Subvention) Regulations, 1993, sets out the general rules for the assessment of means in respect of an application for a nursing home subvention. "Means" for the purposes of these regulations are the income and the imputed value of assets of a person in respect of whom a subvention is being sought and the income and imputed income of his or her spouse. Section 13 of the regulations states that "a health board may impute an annual income equivalent to 5% of the estimated market value of the principal residence of the person, if it was not occupied immediately prior to or at the time of the application by a spouse, a son or daughter aged less than 21 years or in full time education or a relative in receipt of the disabled person's maintenance allowance, blind person's pension, disability benefit, invalidity pension or old age non-contributory pension."
Section 10.4 of the regulations sets out the level of abatement whereby a health board in calculating the amount of subvention to be paid to a person, may abate the maximum rate appropriate to that person's level of dependency by the amount which that person's means exceeds the rate of the old age non-contributory pension.
Section 22 of the regulations sets out an exclusion whereby a health board may refuse to pay a subvention to a person if his or her principal residence is valued at £75,000 or more and is not occupied by a spouse, a son or daughter aged less than 21 years or in full-time education or a relative in receipt of the disabled person's maintenance allowance, blind person's pension, disability benefit, invalidity pension, or old age non-contributory pension and the person's income is greater than £5,000 per annum.
My Department is currently reviewing this section with a view to increasing the value of the principal residence in line with current market values for the purposes of the exclusion clause.
