Letter of the week: Seniors living with families disadvantaged during means testing for nursing home subsidies

Letter of the week: Seniors living with families disadvantaged during means testing for nursing home subsidies

https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/forum/letter-of-the-week-seniors-living-with-families-disadvantaged-during-means-testing-for-nursing-home-subsidies

2023-09-23

My mum sold her three-room flat years ago to move into my eldest sister’s house to help look after my sister’s children.

Now, my mum has advanced dementia and my sister cannot look after her any more because she herself was recently diagnosed with cancer. She asked a social worker to help admit my mum to a nursing home. To our dismay, my mum was entitled to only 20 per cent subsidy.

The means test took into account the incomes of everyone in the household, including those of my sister’s two children who have just started to work. On the flip side, many of my friends’ parents who live in their own homes can get higher subsidies because there is no income in the household.

Such an approach to determining the amount of subsidy discourages old folk from living with their families. The higher bill is also taxing on young people’s income. After years of looking after her grandchildren, my mother has now become a burden to them.

In cases where a senior has moved into her family’s home, the authorities should look at just the senior’s individual assets to assess how much subsidy that person is entitled to, rather than the incomes of the people living with that person. My mum has no house and no savings.

It is really not easy to look after an advanced-stage dementia patient. I was also shocked to hear that my sister has to wait one or two years before my mum can be admitted to a nursing home.

Shirley Tay Sock Kim

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