Older people may have to take out insurance to pay for long term care

Older people in England could be asked to take out insurance to pay for long term care in their old age, as one option proposed by the government in a green paper on reform of the funding arrangements for residential and home based social care.

Under the present English system anyone with a home or savings of £23 500 (€27 400; $38 200) or more is not given state funding for a care home or help from social services.

This means that thousands of pensioners each year have to sell their homes or use their …