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The Fair Deal will have implications for your income and assets when you apply for it.

In the case of single applicant’s, you can expect to contribute 80% of your net income and 7.5% of your assets including your Home. If you are part of a couple you will be paying 40% of your combined income and 3.75% of your combined assets including your Home.

Every applicant’s circumstances can be different and how the Fair Deal impacts them will vary from Applicant to Applicant. If you are applying for the Fair Deal you need to make sure you do it properly and get advice from persons suitably qualified to give it. If you are building an extension on your house you would most likely get a quote before you do so in order to have an idea what its going to cost you. Why would you treat applying for the Fair Deal any differently?

At Fairdealadvice.ie we will give you the advice you require customised to your specific and unique circumstances. Our advice will calculate what the applicant will be paying towards their cost of care and what subsidy the applicant is likely to receive. Our advice will also advise the applicant what the hidden extra costs will be and in the case of couples how much will the applicants spouse have of their income to live on going forward.

To find out how the Fair Deal will affect you contact Tom Murray @ advice@fairdealadvice.ie or phone 086 601 5042. Visit our website for further information.

When the time comes for you or a family member or friend to become a Resident in a Nursing Home it is very important that you understand the different fees and charges that may apply. Often this is a stressful time and it is easy to make mistakes or to under estimate the cost of care that you will end up paying. In this article I will highlight the main fees that you are likely to have to pay and explain to you what they are and what to look out for.

The Fees you are most likely to encounter are as follows:

• Private Nursing Home Fees
• Fair Deal/Nursing Home Support Scheme Fees
• Service Charges
• Ancillary Services Charges

The Private Nursing Home Fee’s:

This is the rate you pay if you enter the Nursing Home as a Private Resident. These fees are payable by Residents who due to their wealth may not apply for the Fair Deal and by Residents who are applying for Fair Deal but are waiting for approval and in the meantime need to avail of long- term care facilities. The Private Fee is a premium fee and typically can be anything from €200 to €400 higher than the Fair Deal rate.

The Private fees will cover your Bed and Board, laundry and some other services you require. Usually you would be entitled to a Private room when paying these fees. Extra charges may apply depending on the Nursing Home.

Fair Deal Fees:

Residents who apply and are approved for the Fair Deal/Nursing Home Support Scheme are entitled to the Fair Deal rate for their Nursing Home care. The Fair Deal rate is less than the Private rate as it is a negotiated rate that the National Treatment Purchase Fund has on behalf of the HSE agreed with individual Nursing Homes based on their cost of care. Approximately 95% of Residents throughout the country would be on the Fair Deal rate.

The Fair Deal rate not standardised and differs across Nursing Homes throughout the Country. The Fair Deal fees can range from as low as €800 per week to as high as €1,800 for some HSE run facilities. The average Fair Deal rate is about €950 per week.

Under the Fair Deal you are entitled to a Private Room in a Nursing Home of your choice (subject to bed availability. The Fee covers your bed and board laundry and your care costs.

Service Charges:

These fees are charged by Nursing Homes mainly to Fair Deal Residents to cover items such as entertainment, activities and other items that are not covered by the Fair Deal. It is very important when choosing a Nursing Home to ask how much is their service charge fee. These can range from €25 up to €300 per week depending on the Nursing Home and its location.

Ancillary services/extras charges:

These fees cover extras that the Resident may wish to avail of which will include Hairdressing, Physiotherapy, Aromatherapy, certain medications and dressing not covered by the Medical card, Sky TV, Hospital transfers and other services that the Resident may wish to avail of that is not covered by the Fair Deal or the Private rate.

It is very important when calculating how much a Resident’s Nursing Home Fees are going to be for budgeting to consider the above as they can often represent 25-30% extra costs per week over and above the Nursing Home fees.

If you require further information, please contact Tom Murray of www.fairdealadvice.ie by phone 086 601 5042 or by email advice@fairdealadvice.ie.

Source From: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/understanding-nursing-home-fees-tom-murray/

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘐𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘦? 𝘛𝘰𝘮 𝘔𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘺– 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 Fairdealadvice.ie 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢 𝘎𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯, 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘌𝘖 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘐𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘛𝘢𝘥𝘩𝘨 𝘋𝘢𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘔𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘑𝘪𝘮 𝘋𝘢𝘭𝘺.

In an insightful discussion about Older Care, Nursing Homes and the Fair Deal Scheme, broadcast on Newstalk’s Between the Lines programme, last Saturday (18th May, 2019), our founder and lead adviser Tom Murray, along with CEO of Nursing Homes Ireland Tadhg Daly, and Minister for State for Mental Health and Older Persons, Jim Daly speaks to host, 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐆𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐧.

In his part Tom explores the lengths and depths of The Fair Deal Advice Scheme in Ireland, and ideals of better utilization of the care provided by the State Government fund.

In the wake of a growing population of the Average Age; nursing home and step-down care happens to have a deep impact on modern Irish families. However, individuals are often disadvantaged with lack of proper intimation and personal guidance, when it comes to making the most crucial moves of their lives. Sometimes, the information available on the internet is not sufficient for particular cases and concerns. Therefore, it’s a great resource to have a personal guidance.

On these perspectives, Tom raises concerns about having a Power of Attorney in place, especially for those over the age of 65. Moreover, he also lends his valuable advice to listers, about the total system and ideals of the Fair Deal Scheme, the way it works, whom is the scheme ideal for, and guides you on the importance of timely applications and accuracy of credentials.

Speaking On The Importance Of Having A Power Of Attorney In Place

At some point of in the life of a person, they will need a durable Power of Attorney. The PoA gives families the power to make decisions on behalf of thier elders, in case they are physically or mentally unable to do so on their own. For seniors, coping with dementia and other medical ailments, this a common potential of life, that calls for an acute pre-planning. Hence, Tom encourages families and individuals to consider timely summoning of a PoA.

Missed The Show? No Worries! Listen To The Podcast Of The Episode

If you have missed the show on Saturday, the episode is turned into a podcast, that you can download for free, from the website of Newstalk. For more information :https://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/between-the-lines-with-andrea-gilligan/nursing-homes-step-care-ireland

Completing the application form for the Nursing Home Support Scheme/Fair Deal can be a complicated process and errors and or omissions can have serious consequences for the applicants and their families.

In my work at Fair Deal Advice we often have Clients engaging our services to help untangle and correct the consequences of incorrectly completed application forms. This has often resulted in over and under payment of the Applicant’s contribution towards the cost of care. When I analyse why these errors have occurred they follow a common themes which I have listed below:

1. 1. Person completing the form not been suitably qualified to do so and do not having adequate knowledge of how the Fair Deal/NHSS works.
2. 2. The completion of the form been rushed usually by pressure from a Discharge Coordinator in a HSE facility anxious to move a Patient into a long term care facility to free up a Hospital bed. The Discharge Coordinator often fills out the form with the Applicant or their family member at the Hospital without the Applicants family having full knowledge of assets and income resulting in over and under declarations.
3. 3. Persons filling out the form and deliberately omitting assets and income in the belief that they wont be found out and to reduce the applicants contribution to care costs under the Fair Deal.
4. 4. Application forms been rushed to obtain Fair Deal/NHSS support towards care costs asap without taking time to go through the Applicants assets and income properly and checking against documents supporting values such as up to date statements from Bank’s, Post Offices and Credit Unions etc.

Typically if a Fair Deal/NHSS application is to be completed correctly with the necessary supporting documentation it can take up to 3 weeks before the application is ready for submission. This is usually due to the delay that occurs in obtaining statements from Banks, Credit Unions, Post Offices and valuations for property and shares. Where a Enduring Power of Attorney needs to be enacted this may cause further delays as Banks and other institutions will refuse to release documents to persons other than the account holder or their Power of Attorney if they are incapacitated.

The consequences of an incorrectly completed Fair Deal/NHSS application form are serious and will often only come to light when the Application has passed away and cause serious issues such as financial penalties and delays in the distribution of the estate.

If you need to complete an application form for the Fair Deal/NHSS take time and ensure you do it right and if necessary engage the services available from Fair Deal Advice where we will professionally advise and guide you through the process.

For further information visit our website www.fairdealadvice.ie or contact Tom Murray on 086 6015042 or email advice@fairdealadvice.ie.

Source From: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dont-rushed-completing-your-fair-deal-application-form-tom-murray/

In my work running Fairdealadvice.ie, I am regularly engaged by clients to help resolve issues with Fair Deal/Nursing Home Support Scheme applications that have been submitted incorrectly. These errors have resulted in excessive contributions been taken by the HSE from applicants or under payments by the recipient sometimes for protracted periods before the errors have been discovered.

While we can recover over payments for our clients, we often are engaged by clients to help resolve situations where underpayments have been made. Underpayments can occur due to to incorrect asset and income figures supplied deliberately or otherwise or delays in notification of the death of a spouse which changes the status of the person receiving Fair Deal financial assistance from a couple to a single person and results in the recipient’s pension and asset contributions doubling and allowances halving. Delays in notification can result in a substantial debt accumulating and where under declaration of income and assets is discovered the recipient of Fair Deal support can be removed from the Scheme and all underpayments and Fair Deal funding paid to date by the HSE will be reclaimed by the HSE.

Errors also occur typically due to lack of information been available at the time of application and often by people applying for the Fair Deal for a relative who do not have the necessary skills to complete the forms correctly and or who are stressed from the pressure and emotional distress of having to admit a loved one to long term care.

Most worrying however is bad advice from persons who are not qualified to advise or who don’t know the specific circumstances financial and otherwise of the applicant. From my experience these can be friends, relatives, medical professionals and even some financial advisers. Often this advice is not to declare all of a person’s assets and income to reduce the applicant’s contribution to their long- term care costs under the Fair Deal. A recent example of this was a friend of a client applying for the Fair Deal telling her that she did not declare all her assets when applying for the Fair Deal for her husband and her application was not audited.

The HSE will find out that a recipient of Fair Deal support has undeclared and undervalued assets and income only after the person has died. Before an estate can now be distributed and where the deceased was in receipt of Fair Deal support a copy of the Inland Revenue Affidavit in respect of the Deceased’s Estate is filed with the HSE for the purpose of obtaining a Certificate of Clearance prior to the distribution of the Estate. This allows the HSE to crosscheck the assets and income declared by the deceased person or their representative in their Fair Deal Application. Any discrepancies will result in the HSE recovering any loss it may have incurred by undeclared income and assets and may result in any subsidy given being recovered in full from the Estate. This will result in delays in the distribution and in a reduction in the value of the estate to be distributed.

I trust you find this article informative and helpful and it highlights to you the importance of ensuring that the information submitted on your application for Fair Deal is correct. If you are looking to apply for the Fair Deal and need help and advice regarding any aspect of the Fair Deal please contact me Tom Murray on 086 6015042 or at advice@fairdealadvice.ie. For further information visit our website www.fairdealadvice.ie.

At Fair Deal Advice we offer impartial advice to our Clients on the Fair Deal and are not linked to any financial institutions or will attempt to sell any financial or investment products to you.

If you have older parents, brothers and sisters relative and friends and if you are an older person yourself than I would strongly recommend that you or your relatives and friends have Powers of Attorney in place. This advice would be extended to anyone about to undergo major surgery or undergoing treatments for serious medical conditions.

As one of Ireland’s leading Advisers on the Nursing Home Support Scheme- Fair Deal, I regularly come across situations where people lose their cognitive ability and capacity to make decisions for themselves. I usually meet the families and friends who are trying to organise funding for long term care available under the Nursing Home Support Scheme-Fair Deal which due to sudden or progressive decline in health of the applicant find themselves unable to progress the applications due to lack of capacity of the applicant. Often the applicant has plenty of money in the Bank and property none of which can be accessed if joint signatures are not in place on Bank accounts or if a Power of Attorney or Enduring Power of Attorney are not in place.

There are two types of Power of Attorney which are the Power of Attorney which allows someone usually a close relative or friend to act on someones behalf when they have capacity. This is very useful for someone who has capacity but who for whatever reason cannot act on their own behalf and nominates someone else to do so. Sometime this can also be put in place by persons who may be living abroad and nominate someone to act on there behalf and is not necessarily used just for ill health.

The second form of Power of Attorney is the Enduring Power of Attorney. This comes into place when the person who has granted the Power of Attorney loses their capacity to make decisions. When the Grantor of the Power of Attorney loses their capacity the Power of Attorney is no longer valid. This could occur with the onset of dementia, Alzheimer, stroke, brain injury or other illness. When organising a Power of Attorney in particular for older persons or persons in poor health, your Solicitor will normally recommend that you put the Enduring Power of Attorney in place so that the grantees can act on the grantors behalf when/if they lose capacity. In order to safeguard the Grantor, the Enduring Power of Attorney must be registered with the Wards of Court with clear evidence that the Grantor has lost the capacity to make decisions or to act on their own behalf.

By having Power of Attorneys in place you have authorised the Grantee permission to act on your behalf. They can pay your Nursing Home Fees, complete your Nursing Home Support Scheme applications and deal with your affairs when you cannot either temporarily or in the long term. The Grantees have an obligation to act in good faith and to keep proper records of any transactions that they carry out for you. The Enduring Power of Attorney ends or can be revoked when the Grantor dies or returns to full health.

I would strongly recommend that Power of Attorney and Enduring Power of Attorney are taken out when the person taking it out is in good health and has full mental capacity. If a Solicitor feels that the person looking to take out the Power of Attorney does not have full capacity they may refuse to act on behalf of the person or their family members without written medical evidence regarding capacity.

It would be good practice to nominate two persons as your grantees who may have to act jointly on any decisions regarding your affairs.

If you don’t have an Enduring Power of Attorney in Place and you lose capacity, you will leave your relatives in a very difficult situation whereby they cannot access your funds to pay for your care needs and other expenses and cannot complete the Nursing Home Support Scheme Ancillary loan forms. The only solution is that they will have to apply to make you a Ward of Court which is an expensive and long process. In the meantime who funds your care?

If the above is relevant to you or your relatives and friends I would strongly recommend you contact your Solicitor today and make an appointment to have Powers of Attorney put in place. You may never uses them but knowing that you have them in place should give you peace of mind knowing that they are in place if anything should happen to you or your relatives and friends.

If you need any further advise on this area or on the Nursing Home Support scheme please contact Tom Murray on 086 6015042 or email me at advice@fairdealadvice.ie. For further details on the Nursing Home Support Scheme- Fair Deal and how we can help you, please visit our website www.fairdealadvice.ie.

Source From: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-having-powers-attorney-place-tom-murray

In my work advising people on the Fair Deal -Nursing Home Support Scheme I regularly come across potential applicants and their families who are fearful of the financial implications that the Fair Deal will have on them. Much of this fear is generated by misinformation given to them by friends relatives and even health care professionals. I have come across people who have been told that they will lose all their savings, will have to sell their homes, cant rent out their properties, their partners will be left destitute, all of which is untrue and which causes unnecessary stress and worry for potential applicants and their families.

The Fair Deal is an affordable way to pay for long term care and regardless of circumstances works for most people even for people who are asset rich but cash poor.

If you know anyone who is considering long term care I would strongly recommend that they get professional advice from a service like we operate at fairdealadvice.ie. Our service can calculate what you will be required to pay even before you need to apply and will ensure a smooth application when you need to apply which will avoid unnecessary delay and ensures the applicant will avail of quality long term care at a Nursing Home of their choice funded by the Fair Deal. For further information please contact Tom Murray on 086 6015042 or email advice@fairdealadvice.ie or visit our website www.fairdealadvise.ie.

Source From: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/need-fear-fair-deal-tom-murray

The above article in which I feature extensively highlights the complexities that some potential Fair Deal- Nursing Home Support Scheme applicants or those planning for their future face. For those with a good income and assets, it’s not just a case of filling out the forms and submitting the application. To do so without the correct professional advice could be a very costly mistake for the applicant that the applicant potentially will end up paying for until they pass away. Therefore if you are planning to apply for the Fair Deal for yourself or a friend and relative and you or they have a good income and assets of value I would strongly recommend getting professional advice from www.fairdealadvice.ie to ensure that the Fair Deal is the right vehicle to fund yours or your relatives long-term care.

The Fair Deal is an excellent vehicle to fund your long-term care if you are earning an average income and average assets. However, if you live somewhere like Dublin you could easily enough have a family home worth €750,000 plus and this combined with a good pension and some savings could make it borderline or not viable for you to use the Fair Deal to fund your long-term care. With tax relief available at the higher rate of tax you pay for Nursing Home fees you can in some circumstances end up paying less net of tax relief funding your Nursing Home care and be without charges on your assets and other restrictions that the Fair Deal may apply to your income and assets. While the Fair Deal is meant to be fair one has to ask yourself how fair is it that the individual who has a good income from a private or employer pension and has a nice house which they have acquired from years of hard work has to pay up to 80% of their pension income and 7.5% of the value of their home and other assets while the person in the bedroom next door may only be paying 80% of the old age pension.

The moral of the situation is, if you find yourself retired with a good pension and cash in the bank and a nice house don’t forget to enjoy yourself, have a nice holiday every year, upgrade your car and live life to the full (within reason) as saving your money for the Nursing Home will only mean that you will be paying more if you enter a Nursing Home under the Fair Deal scheme.

If you need help or advice regarding yours or a relatives Nursing Home Support Scheme application or if you are worried or wish to plan for your potential future care needs to contact Tom Murray today at www.fairdealadvice.ie by email advice@fairdealadvice.ie or phone directly at 086 6015042.

Source From: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fair-deal-dos-donts-nursing-home-care-tom-murray