Nora Owen
Question:55 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Health and Children his position on the proposal to tax the estates of persons who have used nursing homes. [9901/01]
Written Answers. - Nursing Home Subventions.
In line with a Government decision, an expenditure review of the nursing home subvention scheme is currently being undertaken by my Department in association with the Department of Finance and is expected to be completed shortly. The aims of the review process are to provide a systematic analysis of what is actually being achieved by expenditure in each programme and to provide a basis on which more informed decisions can be made on priorities within and between programmes.
The purpose of this review is to address the following issues: the operation of the nursing home subvention scheme and the extent to which current objectives are being met; the efficiency, effectiveness and equity implications of the current subvention scheme; the need and the likely future demand for private nursing home care; the supply of nursing home care in the future; the role of the nursing home sector in an integrated public-private care system; the role of the social economy in an integrated, community-based, long-stay care system; optimal funding arrangements for long-stay care; and the major policy questions for the future.
Documents recently released by my Department under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997, include correspondence between my Department and the Department of Finance. These documents show that a draft of the expenditure review includes a suggestion that consideration should be given to a provision which would enable the State to claw-back some of the cost of subvention from the estate of deceased beneficiaries of the scheme. This suggestion is one of a number of proposals made by the author of the review. As the review is still in draft form, it would be inappropriate for further comment to be made without the full findings and recommendations of the review being available for consideration.