The Guardian view on tax and the NHS: honesty is overdue | Editorial
There isn't much about last year's general election that Theresa May is in a hurry to revisit, least of all the plan to reform social care by a mechanism that came to be known as the "dementia tax". The pitch was poor, but the concept deserved a fairer hearing. Outside the partisan frenzy of a campaign, it might have started a necessary conversation about long-term funding to meet the costs of an ageing population.
New research published today lays bare the challenge. A model developed by the Health Foundation, a charity, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies anticipates demand for spending on adult social care to rise by 3.9% a year over the next 15 years. Over the same period, the population over the age of 65 is expected to increase by 4.4 million; and the number over 85 by 1.3 million.
Continue reading...