Not all pensioners are rich and in big houses
YEARS ago I was ever so proud of myself, I worked plenty of overtime and if the availability was there I did a second job. This was to enable me to get a States loan and own my own house. I eventually succeeded and became a homeowner. What a silly mistake that was. I am now in my 80th year and my savings are almost gone on house maintenance and health bills.
In the near future I will have to sell my house, because if TRP does not cripple me, I will have to sell to go into care in a residential home, where without any choice I will probably have to share a room with a complete stranger who snores/shouts or meanders round the room rifling through my possessions thinking they are theirs. This will not be their fault due to their health circumstances.
Yes, if I had more finances, I could be upgraded to a single room, but don’t we all pay for long-term care and so should be treated equally?
My previous employment in the quarry industry in damp and hostile conditions have caused my joints to be irreparable, and for what? To end up having to sell my small house that I worked hard to own.
Perhaps if I had looked after my body more and not worked all those hours I would be able to stay in my house a lot longer, but with the way things are going for pensioners it would not be for too much longer, as TRP (remember a small house), health costs, etc. make for a miserable future.
I recently had a fall, was taken to a doctor’s and had to have apparatus to check my head, had an ECG, a blood test, and the doctor’s bill – all one visit – was over £200. I can’t even think about dentists. Before you sit in the chair there is a sign telling you to pay on the day.
When will politicians stop classing all pensioners as rich and in big houses? Yes, I would like to pay for my own funeral, but I doubt it possible the way the future looks for pensioners of moderate means.
Oh how I now wish I had stayed in the security of a States house and not have all the worries a modest homeowner will in future have, all because they tried to better themselves.
P. BARRETT
Address withheld.