Nursing home fee details announced in hurry in face of opposition
'The circumstances demanded that we make a public announcement,' Social Development Minister Cathy Rogers says
The Gallant government has acknowledged that its Monday announcement on nursing home costs was done in a hurry, in response to growing political opposition from senior citizens.
"The circumstances demanded that we make a public announcement," she said.
"We have prioritized coming to some conclusions with this because we have not been happy with the fear-mongering that's going on."
Monday's announcement took place at 10 a.m. in Moncton, and some elements of it were leaked to newspapers on Sunday, in time for their Monday morning editions.
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Yet just last Friday afternoon, Rogers said she was still consulting seniors, including a meeting that day with more than 100 people at the Fredericton legion.
At the time, Rogers suggested she still hadn't made decisions about key elements of the new policy, including whether cash from the sale of a home would be counted in assessing a senior's eligibility for nursing home subsidies.
"I've been collecting peoples' ideas, and what they think is fair and reasonable, and this definitely will be included in the design of a policy," she said.
But on Monday, Rogers announced the new nursing home fee formula, which stipulates that if seniors sell their homes and put the money in the bank, that cash will be exempt from calculations of their assets and ability to pay.
Suddenness questioned by Tories
The suddenness of Monday's announcement led the Opposition Progressive Conservatives to question what changed.
"They've continued to say, 'No, there's going to be extensive consultation. No, we're going to wait until the fall to come out with this,'" PC leader Bruce Fitch said Tuesday in question period.
"Mr. Speaker, what happened this weekend that caused the minister to change her position?"
Rogers wouldn't say Tuesday exactly when the decision was made to exclude the proceeds of a house sale.
The March 31 provincial budget — the Gallant government's first — included the announcement that the Liberals would rejig how it subsidizes the cost of nursing home care.
Among other things, it said it would remove the cap for seniors who could afford it, and would factor "liquid assets" — money in bank accounts, for example — in making the calculation. Homes would be exempt.
Projected savings pending
Rogers said Tuesday that at least one element of Monday's details was new, and was not part of the original plan when the budget was tabled in March.
Couples with a household net income of less than $60,000 will actually see what they pay per month for care go down — something that no one from the Gallant government had ever mentioned before Monday.
"That is new," Rogers said Tuesday, "and that's a result of engaging with seniors and hearing their concerns."
But Rogers said that change won't have any effect on the overall projected cost and savings from the policy.
She still wouldn't say what she expects the dollar figures to be, promising to reveal them when she delivers her departmental estimates in the legislature in the coming weeks.
But she said the figures will be within the original March 31 budget projection.
The PC Opposition continues to argue against any policy that would count any assets in calculating seniors' nursing home costs.