Andrew Dilnot has branded suggestions that the government could delay moves to tackle long-term care reforms until 2025 as "unacceptable".
He said any such delay would be "breach of peoples' trust" and urged the government to meet its coalition agreement that recognised the "urgency of reforming the system".
Dilnot was chairman of the Independent Commission for Funding of Care and Support that published its findings in July.
As COVER reported, it recommended that people in long term care (LTC) should not pay more than £35,000 in total for care and between £7,000 and £10,000 a year for accommodation and food.
This would require an additional £1.7bn of government spending but would also encourage the public to take out insurance products to cover their potential liabilities.
The government has said it will publish a White Paper on the reforms no later than the spring, but a report in the Daily Telegraph suggested that it may delay implementing any decisions until 2025 with the Treasury reported to be reluctant to agree the additional spending.
This drew the ire of Dilnot, who told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the sum was a very small part of total public spending but would address the "the aspect of our welfare state that lets us down and leaves people terrified by the prospect of getting old".
"I think 2025 would be completely unacceptable," he said.
"The government promised a White Paper by Easter next year - I think that level of delay would be acceptable, anything beyond that would be completely unacceptable.
"I've seen no official sign to say that there's any suggestion that a decision will be delayed beyond that, but any such delay would be a breach of people's trust," he added.
The Commission's findings have drawn almost universal support from private sector and charities involved in the LTC sector, something Dilnot called "remarkable" and supported the need for action.
"The £1.7bn is just 1/400th of total public spending," he continued.
"If this is something that isn't important enough to have 1/400th of public spending allocated to sorting it out then we've got a very confused idea of how we should run the country.
"The government should be saying that we have to afford it, this is the aspect of our welfare state that lets us down and leaves people terrified by prospect of getting old.
"This isn't minority a sport and it has to get sorted out," he added.
