Fair Deal/Nursing Homes Nursing home wants to be paid in cash

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iamjmurphy

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Hi, my neighbour's wife went into a nursing home about a year ago. He has availed of the Fair Deal scheme. The nursing home has requested he pay cash. Is this a bit odd? Also he is paying €450 each week at 75 years of age. He has a reasonable pension however this is an big amount of money to pay each week for god knows how long. Even though he isn't working is there anything he can claim back? Will the amount ever reduce for him? Thanks so much for your help.
 
iamjmurphy said:
The nursing home has requested he pay cash. Is this a bit odd?
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Unusual but as long as they are issuing accurate receipts then I would have thought that it was OK?
iamjmurphy said:
Also he is paying €450 each week
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You mean the Fair Deal scheme pays most of it and that's the balance that he has to pay?
www2.hse.ie

Financial assessment: How much you pay towards care

Find out how how the Fair Deal financial assessment works and how we calculate your payments towards nursing home care.
www2.hse.ie www2.hse.ie
iamjmurphy said:
Even though he isn't working is there anything he can claim back?
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Does he pay any income tax on his pension? If so then he can claim tax relief at his marginal rate on the payments.

Nursing home and additional nursing care expenses

This page tells you how to claim relief on nursing home expenses under certain circumstances.
www.revenue.ie www.revenue.ie
iamjmurphy said:
Will the amount ever reduce for him?
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After three years the family home is removed from the Fair Deal means assessment at which point the amount that he has to pay could reduce:
www2.hse.ie

Financial assessment: How much you pay towards care

Find out how how the Fair Deal financial assessment works and how we calculate your payments towards nursing home care.
www2.hse.ie www2.hse.ie
 
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Have they explained why cash payment is the only option?
Are they issuing proper (VAT?) receipts?
Detailing the charges (e.g. core nursing home charge + ancillary/incidental charges for other services)?
 
There are a number of nursing homes under investigation at the minute in regards to their management of client funds
www.irishexaminer.com

Aperee Living nursing homes referred to gardaí over financial and fire concerns

Regional reports from the Irish Examiner team
www.irishexaminer.com www.irishexaminer.com

I'm not in any way suggesting this nursing home is up to anything untoward but both the amount and the request for cash is very unusual. In addition to requesting receipts, I'd ask for a statement from the nursing home provider.
 
iamjmurphy said:
Also he is paying €450 each week at 75 years of age.
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He would have received notification from the Fair Deal scheme generally by letter as to what his weekly payment would be. There may be other charges added to this such as hairdresser, chiropodist etc. but they should not be excessive and should all be visible through his monthly statement from the nursing home.

The cash element does sound strange and certainly in our family dealings with a nursing home in the past we were never asked for cash.
 
iamjmurphy said:
Hi, my neighbour's wife went into a nursing home about a year ago. He has availed of the Fair Deal scheme. The nursing home has requested he pay cash. Is this a bit odd? Also he is paying €450 each week at 75 years of age. He has a reasonable pension however this is an big amount of money to pay each week for god knows how long. Even though he isn't working is there anything he can claim back? Will the amount ever reduce for him? Thanks so much for your help.
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A lot of good advice above, To summarise : If you want to help him, you could learn more about the Fair deal scheme and
- help him check that the assessment of his means and income is correct
- Make sure he is doing a tax return to avail of tax relief on the fees, ( which he may be if he pays income tax on his pension
- Check if he should apply to be reassessed in a few years if his cash savings have reduced
- Check that the invoice from the Nursing home is correct and he is only being charged for the correct "extras"

€450 is a lot, but nursing homes cost €1200 a week , if not more, so the Fair deal scheme is subsidising it.
 
iamjmurphy said:
He has availed of the Fair Deal scheme. Also he is paying €450 each week at 75 years of age. He has a reasonable pension however this is an big amount of money to pay each week for god knows how long.
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Does your neighbour know that the amount assessed on the house only applies for the first 3 years and can be deferred until after they both die ?
The amount owed will then be taken from the proceeds of the house sale.
So if he does not already have the loan and is struggling financially, he can apply to Fair Deal for the nursing home loan.
That should substantially reduce the amount he is paying each week.
 
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ClubMan said:
You mean the Fair Deal scheme pays most of it and that's the balance that he has to pay?

Does he pay any income tax on his pension? If so then he can claim tax relief at his marginal rate on the payments.

After three years the family home is removed from the Fair Deal means assessment at which point the amount that he has to pay could reduce:
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Thanks so much for your reply. Yes that's the balance he is paying. I'll try look into it more in depth when I get the chance as he pays income tax on his pension. This kind of thing confuses me but I'll do my best.
 
iamjmurphy said:
Thanks so much for your reply. Yes that's the balance he is paying. I'll try look into it more in depth when I get the chance as he pays income tax on his pension. This kind of thing confuses me but I'll do my best.
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If you're helping him with this then check if he's already registered for Revenue myAccount. If he's not then this explains what to do in order to get registered.

Register for myAccount

Register for myAccount
www.revenue.ie www.revenue.ie
Once that's set up he can log details of nursing home charges that he pays and obtain tax relief at his marginal rate.

Nursing home and additional nursing care expenses

This page tells you how to claim relief on nursing home expenses under certain circumstances.
www.revenue.ie www.revenue.ie
It's easy enough to do. Post back if anything is still unclear.
 
iamjmurphy said:
Hi, my neighbour's wife went into a nursing home about a year ago. He has availed of the Fair Deal scheme. The nursing home has requested he pay cash. Is this a bit odd?
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Is it possible that the monthly direct debit which would be the usual way to pay a nursing home was bouncing ?

Some might find paying cash weekly easier, particularly if the neighbour still collects their state pension in cash every week at the Post Office.
 
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