Why should the Government pay for my Dad's care so that I can inherit his house?

That wicked Theresa May is trying to steal my inheritance! She wants my Dad to pay for his own care and leave me and my brother with a measly £50K each when he goes. How scandalous!

My dad is 96. He has worked all his life and owns a modest semi-detached house. He still lives there, reasonably independently on a modest pension, with a little help from me and my brother and a lady from Help The Aged who visits once a week and a red button service for emergencies.

I have long accepted that when he needs extra help at home, he will have to pay for it, and that if he needs to go into a home, he will have to sell the house to pay the fees. To be honest, I never realised that there might be a limit on the amount he had to spend. I was just glad that he kept well and that, if necessary, the money was there and he could be comfortable.

So criticism of Mrs May's announcement that people could keep £100K to pass on to their children has puzzled me. So many politicians and commentators seem to think it's mean to compel pensioners to pay for their own care at all. The state should pay for it (out of taxes paid by people like me) leaving the inheritance unencumbered. I just don't get this argument.

I can see the apparent inequity of people who have saved and bought houses having to pay, when those who could have done the same have chosen to spend money on living the high life, or risked everything on dodgy investments or failed business ideas. But isn't that just life? How can we judge other people's life decisions?

If you applied that argument to all state benefits, would you pay any means-tested benefits at all?

The whole point of the welfare state is to be a safety net for the less fortunate. This is an expensive business and the money must come, in some way or another, from taxpayers. The needs of taxpayers and receivers of any benefits must be balanced. There are many taxpayers who could never aspire to home ownership and savings in the bank and leaving an inheritance to their children. It makes no sense to spend their money to shore up private inheritance.

So thank you Mrs May for letting us keep £100K. You really shouldn't have been so kind.