The Aged Care Taskforce report was finally released in mid-March. It answered some difficult questions and raised a whole lot more. The goal of the taskforce was to consider how aged care services might be funded more equitably and sustainably. Shortly before the release of the report, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ruled out levies or taxes on the general population and changes to thresholds on the family home.
Most Australians hope to age at home. The taskforce needed to consider how to fund this fairly, while raising money to meet both increased demand and higher expectations of those who will experience residential aged care. This inevitably leads to a move towards more of a ‘user-pays’ system. Currently the portion of costs paid by those accessing care is (on average) 25% of ongoing residential care costs and 6% of home care costs.
For home care, as recently summarised for Retirement Essentials by Aged Care expert Louise Biti, the different aspects of care (accommodation, daily expenses, cost of care and extras) will be supported by government, but everyday living expenses will require a higher level of self-funding.
When it comes to residential care, the cost of accommodation and daily care expenses (including food, electricity and laundry etc) will be considered a personal expense and only those residents with low financial capacity will continue to be supported.
