Editorial: Carers should be paid

OPINION: Health Minister Tony Ryall is considering whether to appeal a Human Rights Review Tribunal ruling that the families who care for their severely disabled adult children should be paid for their work.

Hopefully the deliberations in Wellington will not take long, and health officials will abandon any notion of continuing with a practice that unfairly penalises families who have already been dealt one of life's most difficult hands.

Under the current system the Ministry of Health pays for carers to look after severely disabled people, but will not pay family members who work as carers because this is seen as "natural" support.

Mr Ryall has said an appeal is almost certain because of the cost implications.

In reality families who stick by their children and provide lifetime care deserve all the support they can get. It must be one of the toughest situations anyone can face in life, and for some parents that care is not negotiable – they had the child and they see their role as supporting them, no matter what. To that degree the ministry is right – there is a concept of natural care. But that is not to say it should not have a price tag.

For many families being paid for that support may seem an odd idea – it is just something that they want to do. A parent's love is unconditional and knows no bounds.

Looked at dispassionately, paying for carers is the sensible thing to do.

Providing fulltime care for a severely disabled child makes many parents unemployable and puts a huge financial strain on household finances.

If the Ministry of Health is willing to pick up the bill for the care of disabled adults for families who choose to put their children into care, why shouldn't those who choose to keep their children close be supported as well?

The tribunal believes the bill will not be large. Indeed, there will be an element of choice for parents with a number who will not like the idea of being paid for the role they play and will not apply for help.

Mr Ryall's concern is that payments could open the system to a flood of claims for short-term injuries where families act as carers, and has said an appeal is almost certain. His argument seems to put money ahead of justice.

Presumably it is not beyond the wit of the ministry to write the rules intelligently, so that only families of individuals with severe, long-term disabilities are funded.

Mr Ryall need only hear the stories of the families who have fought the good fight and won the human rights ruling to know that appealing is the wrong thing to do.

The financial implications are unlikely to tip the health sector over the edge, and even if the costs were huge, discrimination such as this has no place in a civilised society.

- © Fairfax NZ News