A small number of aged care providers will not be able to charge an accommodation payment to new residents from 1 July because they are yet to publish their pricing information on the My Aged Care website.
While the vast majority of providers have published their maximum accommodation costs, the Department of Social Services confirmed that 11 per cent of aged care providers were yet to do so.
A departmental spokesperson said the Department of Social Services was currently working with these providers to ensure they understood and met their legislative obligations.
These included services that were in the process of having their pricing information published, those that were yet to begin the process and some providers such as Multi-Purpose services, which intended not to charge an accommodation payment.
The increased transparency of prices is one of a series of reforms to kick off this month.
Also coming into effect is the elimination of the distinction between high and low care and a new means-tested care fee for residential aged care, which will be based on an assessment of both income and assets.
Consumers can now use the government’s residential care fee estimator via the My Aged Care website to estimate the fees they may be asked to pay.
Here is a snapshot of the major changes, the most significant sector reform in a generation, that will apply from 1 July 2014:
- More home care packages, including more in the ACAR underway than originally planned
- The removal of the distinction between high and low care, meaning accommodation charges apply across all beds
- Aged care providers must allow residents a choice to pay for accommodation and services by a lump sum (refundable accommodation deposit), a daily accommodation payment, or a combination of both, giving them 28 days to decide
- Care contribution fee for residential care will now be based on both assets and income
- New means test arrangements based on income for home care
- A $25,000 annual cap on means-tested care fees in residential care and $5,000 a year cap for part pensioners and $10,000 a year cap for self-funded retirees for home care
- A $60,000 lifetime cap on care fees across both home and residential care
- All permanent residential aged care will be provided on an ‘ageing in place’ basis giving residents the right to indefinite residence
- Aged care homes cannot refuse a place based on how a potential residents wants to pay their accommodation
- Ceasing of high dependency leave, which had allowed both a low care provider and a high care provider to be paid care subsidies for the same resident at the same time
- Increased accommodation supplement available for new and significantly refurbished facilities
Assistant Minister for Social Services Mitch Fifield said he would monitor the impact of the changes closely.
The fee estimator, whiile a good guide, is potentially misleading. It requires a lot of intuition from the user. DSS in my view should have taken their time in developing a comprehensive calculator.
Coupe of inaccuracies I picked up today are:
Age Pension – doesn’t discount the Age Pension amount by Energy Supplement & Minimum Pension Supplement
It requires you to disclose net rental income however doesn’t cater for a situation where the home is being rented, and accommodaton payment partly paid by DAP. In the end, advice from the call centre was to not disclose rental income when the descriptive text says that one should – can be misleading if one doesn’t know the means test assessment.
Personally, I would have liked the functionality to amend accommodation payment choices and calculate DAPS as well as asking questions.