A simpler, fairer and more immediate solution would be to raise the assets threshold to £200,000 or £250,000 and use extra funding to fill the gaps in the current system.
Already, he has abandoned one bold idea, of abolishing the anachronistic wealth tax, preferring merely to raise the minimum asset base at which the yearly tax kicks in, from €790,000 to €1.3m.
Their attempts will tend, however, to raise the prices of assets and to reduce interest rates.
There are two options: raise the capital against assets in the UK or arrange a mortgage in the country of purchase.
The health secretary will also raise the threshold on assets below which patients are eligible for state help, from £23,000 to £123,000.
The Government rightly wants to raise the amount of assets that someone can have and still be eligible for means-tested support from £14,000 to £123,000.
The new rules' effect will be straightforward: banks will have to raise the amount of assets they report and sell more shares or retain more earnings based on that larger number.
His proposals to raise the cap on assets to £100,000, and fix the lifetime individual liability for care at £35,000, have been heralded as both making the system comprehensible, while giving users of services assurance about their future.
GMAC had been struggling to raise the amount of assets the Fed wanted it to have as a condition for approval.
Excessively low American rates would raise the odds of new asset bubbles and impede the rebalancing of the global economy.
