LMP wants government to renegotiate eligibility criteria for increased home-care subsidy

Opposition LMP is calling on the human resources ministry to renegotiate the eligibility criteria for an increased subsidy for parents tending to permanently sick children at home.

As of January 1, home caregivers of severely disabled children or children suffering from a debilitating illness are eligible to receive 100,000 forints (EUR 311) per month.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, green opposition LMP lawmaker Péter Ungár said that the human resources ministry is set to introduce a new criteria system for determining who is eligible for the subsidy and will review the list of eligible recipients in the second half of the year. He insisted that the new system would not be sufficient for determining who is eligible.

Ungár said that

under the new system, the carer of a child with mild autism — who is capable of eating on their own or dressing themselves — would not be eligible for support, even though one of the child’s parents has to give up their job to care for the child full-time.

He said LMP wants the human resources ministry to renegotiate the subsidy’s eligibility criteria with the relevant representative organisations and to include the opposition parties in the talks. LMP is also calling on the ministry to take more time to review the list of eligible recipients, he added.