The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
A CLARE mother is facing the grim prospect of being forced to sell her family home or pay up to €114,000 over the next five years to cover the cost of long-term care for her incapacitated husband. Councillor Tom McNamara has claimed the mother is getting a “raw deal” under the Fair Deal Nursing Homes Support Scheme because the needs of her two dependant children are not taken into account, due to an anomaly. Councillor McNamara has requested Health Minister Dr James Reilly to change the current legislation to alleviate the distress being caused to this mother, as well as other similar hardship cases. Under the existing scheme, the couple are jointly assessed to pay €600 weekly on top of the Fair Deal allowance to cover the cost of the husband’s long-term residential care in a Clare nursing home. However, the most the mother can pay is €700 a month, leaving the remainder as a burden, which continues indefinitely on …
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