PC-promised program to keep Islanders out of long-term care coming soon

The P.E.I. government says it is almost ready to launch a delayed home caregiver program that was budgeted for this fiscal year.

The caregiver grant program was first promised in the Progressive Conservatives' 2023 election platform with grants of up to $1,500 per month "to support families who choose to keep their loved ones at home longer instead of going to community care."

Premier Dennis King's government carved off $5.2 million for the program in this fiscal year, but Health Minister Mark McLane said developing the new program was harder than anticipated. 

"We'll have a phased approach to this. We can't capture everybody in the first pass that we do in the program. We have to evaluate it too. It impacts long-term care and our health-care system, so it is quite an extensive program," McLane told CBC News. 

"I would say we're 98 per cent of the way there."

McLane said he expects between 700 and 900 families will qualify for the first phase of the program. Islanders on the long-term care waitlist will be eligible, because they've already been assessed.

The other group likely to be included is those who are at risk of going in to long-term care unless assistance is provided. 

The topic has come up in the house twice in the spring sitting, both from the Liberals and the Greens, who say they are hearing from constituents who were banking on this program rolling out.

"Many Islanders were quite pleased to hear about this program. Actually, the people that I talked [to] about [it], they voted for this government on that one particular promise," Official Opposition Leader Hal Perry told the house on Wednesday.

"We have an aging population and many family members have to spend a great deal of time looking after loved ones. It often means that their incomes are reduced because of those pressures."

McLane said much of the program had to be created from scratch, since it is one of the first of its kind in the country. 

He said they were also waiting on word from the Canada Revenue Agency on whether the benefits would be considered taxable income, but he's now confident that will not be the case.

The minister has also said the plan is to backdate the program to January of this year.