Government's secret plan to block repayment of illegal nursing home charges

I had to pay privately for an awful lot of medical care because the care I wanted wasn't available in the timeframe I wanted. Should I be compensated too?

Irish Examiner view: Attorney General delivers remarkable opinion

Attorney General delivers remarkable opinion

The opinion delivered by Attorney General Rossa Fanning on the State’s legal strategy seems remarkable enough as an endorsement of the steps pursued. 

An accompanying comment from the Attorney General, that the public interest is the only interest that the State can have regard to, is even more remarkable.

That seems an out-and-out contradiction given the situation thousands of members of the public found themselves in as a result of this strategy. 

An obvious question to ask is what specific public interests were served by the behaviour of successive governments on this issue.

It’s a frequent criticism of the legal system that it exists to perpetuate itself rather than to serve the people, but reports like this from the Attorney General certainly strengthen the impression of a closed shop validating its own practitioners. 

It also shows up a certain contradiction in the purpose of the office itself: The Attorney General is legal adviser to each Government department and certain public bodies, but is also the representative of the public in all legal proceedings for the enforcement of law and the assertion or protection of public rights.

In this particular instance, the issue at hand is not an obscure point of constitutional law but a well-publicised strategy now familiar to much of the population — a strategy which seems manifestly unfair.

Here is a case in which the assertion or protection of public rights seems to be badly needed, yet the Attorney General has seen fit to focus on its role as legal adviser to Government departments instead. A poor choice.

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A lot of questions to be answered on this one yet. I presume a report has been promised in the distant future?

Isn't there a scheme in place that if you're waiting long enough for a public treatment a private one will be be provided without charge.

In this case there was a charge, often borne by the immediate families of these people.

Hence the wrongdoing.

That New Politics Document keeps coming back to haunt FG. They just can't help themselves, they saw how FF acted in government prior and when FG got in they thought well we have to show the electorate that we are better at FF at being corrupt.

Does it seem that when FG don't get their way in something, they do their absolute best to P*ss everyone off as a punishment like a spoiled child.

Far from being a historical issue it looks like this kind of attitude towards how we treat the elderly is alive and well.

How much do we let go before FFG get booted out?

Will Varadkar have to be out mugging grannies himself?

Yes but you need to apply to the NTPF and it was only setup in 2004, also the fair deal scheme was only setup in 2009 and again you have to apply and be approved for it. I'm pretty sure both these dates fall outside when the majority if not all of when these cases were happening so they don't apply to this situation.

Yeah i'm still not understanding why anyone who used private nursing homes because public beds were full is entitled to a repayment.

I posted this yesterday without describing what's in it.

https://www.thejournal.ie/nursing-homes-ireland-3-5991314-Feb2023/

Since 2016 there have been reports of families with elderly relatives being given all sorts of spurious charges.

Some were charged for bandages and dressings which were to be provided by the HSE.

In some cases being charged for newspapers for blind relatives. Or being charged for bingo and baking for a relatives didn't partake.

Seems the elderly are still getting shafted by FFG.

And makes a further mockery of their claims of how careful they are with the public purse.

Well then, if that applied then to nursing homes, then it applies now to other medical issues and procedures.

PRSI has nothing to do with this. Its not a savings account, PRSI paid today is paid out to someone as welfare tomorrow. Im 37 and will end up having paid PRSI a large portion of my working life but by the time I get to retirement age the state pension as we know it will not exist.

I simply don't agree that holding a medical card should entitle someone to repayment of any private treatment without prior agreement from the state like the NTPF or Fair Deal scheme.

Its akin to requesting your taxi journeys be repaid because you hold a travel pass and there were no buses.

If the government concedes on the nursing home issue, they face a much much bigger bill and a much much bigger problem when it comes to medical treatment.

I'm in agreement with you there.

So would we bring in universal entitlements? Say for people with disabilities should everyone with a certain level of disability have an entitlement to state care?

At present it's at the whim of the state for adults with disabilities, and I'm aware that this is being abused by the private sector these services are farmed out to.

Families are told if they complain about problems in a service they'll have to take their relative home, though they wouldn't have the facilities or resources to care for them at home.

Of course this has been known about for years. What was FFGs response? Sweep it under the carpet with these dodgy secret plans.

What is being said is that the Government is liable to pay the private costs because a public bed wasn't available. Conceding that principle doesn't just apply to nursing home beds, it applies to all treatment available on a medical card. That means that any person with a medical card can just go and get private treatment and claim a refund from the government.

The thing is that the outrage merchants rarely think things through.

Any government that conceded on this issue would be insane.

by the time I get to retirement age the state pension as we know it will not exist.

That depends on who you vote for. Keep voting for FFG and your prediction will certainly come true.