Surging aged care prices create unexpected living costs—find out why!

As we navigate the golden years of our lives, the comfort and care we receive should be the highest priority.

However, the cost of such care is set to rise sharply, leaving many Australian seniors and their families bracing for impact.

The federal government is about to reveal a new plan to see older Australians dig deeper into their pockets to cover aged care costs.


The upcoming changes are part of a new Aged Care Act, one of the key recommendations from the 2021 Royal Commission into the sector.

While the commission suggested that a new aged care levy funded by taxpayers could help cover costs, the government has decided to shift more financial responsibility onto the users of these services instead.


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Australia unveiled new aged care fee reforms after talks with the Coalition. Credit: Shutterstock


This decision comes after extensive negotiations with the Coalition, which have been described as 'detailed' and 'constructive.'

Both parties agree that the financial sustainability of aged care services is a pressing issue, especially with the baby boomer generation now reaching the age where they require more care and the smaller generations that follow them unable to shoulder the tax burden.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells is spearheading the reform to address the financial sustainability of residential and in-home care.


The government's task force has argued that it needs to be more fair and sustainable for taxpayers to continue footing such a large portion of the bill.

As a result, the task force has proposed a system where users contribute more to their care.

This could mean that while the government would still cover residential care costs, users would pay more for accommodation, food, and other services.

High-means residents might see an additional fee, and the option to pay for accommodation via a lump-sum deposit could be phased out in favour of a daily fee.

In-home care could shift to a fee-for-service model where fees are not compulsory, and most users pay nothing.


Under this model, the government would cover care costs, but users would be responsible for other associated costs.

The proposed fee structure is one of the sweeping changes under the new Aged Care Act.

This act aims to replace the current complex and overlapping laws with a single, rights-based law that governs eligibility, funding, quality, and safety regulation.

However, the simplification process has been challenging.

The sector has expressed concerns about the new law's enforceability, fearing that vague standards could lead to unmet expectations, especially in regional areas with limited care options.

The government has a tight timeline to address these concerns and implement the new act by July next year.


In other news, wealthy seniors in Australia could face higher costs for aged care following recommendations from a government task force.

This change is intended to lessen the burden on taxpayers as aged care expenses are projected to rise substantially over the next ten years. You can read more about it here.
Key Takeaways

  • The Australian government is preparing to reveal reforms to aged care fees and regulations following negotiations with the Coalition.
  • The new reforms will see aged care residents pay more, with user contributions favoured over a new taxpayer-funded aged care levy.
  • Legislation for a new Aged Care Act is intended to be passed before commencement next July, addressing financial sustainability in aged care.
  • The sector has expressed concerns about enforcing standards and the financial burden on users, with criminal penalties for poor providers being ruled out.
How do you feel about the proposed increase in user contributions for aged care? What steps are you taking to prepare for these changes? Your insights could help fellow members as we all work together to face these challenges head-on.
 
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Yes if you don’t work a day in your life you’ll get free aged care when you need it! Work all your life, save enough to support yourself (likely be ineligible the for aged pension) you’ll also have to fund your aged care.
 
Part of the reason I won't get an aged care package is because hubby has a defence pension which is considered income, we only get a part aged pension. So we pay a co payment each fortnight. We could not afford two of us paying the co payment. Just crazy. Nothing makes sense anymore unless you look at it from the idea the rich get richer and the poor get poorer
 
Yes if you don’t work a day in your life you’ll get free aged care when you need it! Work all your life, save enough to support yourself (likely be ineligible the for aged pension) you’ll also have to fund your aged care.
Yeah it's a bit crazy. We paid tax all our working life and now only get part pension as hubby was in the defence forces and the pension from that is considered income/
 
This is so scary. Things change so quickly & always to the detriment of the aged. When I cared for my parents their package was much easier to negotiate than now. Now I am in my 80s & can't even get assessed for an aged care package as I only require 2 things to maintain my safety at home & I need 3 things. How stupid can this be??
 
Yes if you don’t work a day in your life you’ll get free aged care when you need it! Work all your life, save enough to support yourself (likely be ineligible the for aged pension) you’ll also have to fund your aged care.
The govt has known that baby boomers are beginning to reach the age where we may need aged care. Their solution move more costs to us without increasing aged pension! Not impressed!
 
This is so scary. Things change so quickly & always to the detriment of the aged. When I cared for my parents their package was much easier to negotiate than now. Now I am in my 80s & can't even get assessed for an aged care package as I only require 2 things to maintain my safety at home & I need 3 things. How stupid can this be??
Yeah it's really odd. Hubby has a level 3 package but we pay a co payment as we only get a part pension and he also has a defence pension that is considered income. They keep changing stuff around and you get it once then it's gone. There needs to be some sort of level ground. What constitutes keeping safe in your home. You would think the money was coming out of the unelected bureaucrats pockets instead of being money paid by taxpayers who have most likely already paid for it
 
As I understand it, some decades ago the Federal government added a 7% levy for retirement fund, but soon the fund became too much for the politicians to know to exist and so they simply used it for themselves as fat cats, etc. This, while telling Australians to be responsible. The 7% remained but the monies no longer are placed in a funds and Australians are told they need to be self-funding. Then the Commonwealth decided to limit pensions and welfare payments to the CPI but somehow never enforced this upon themselves and the states to limit increases to maximum CPI and not more. On 11 November 1910 the Commonwealth commenced to legislate for "land taxation" meaning the States no longer had this power (see also Municipal of Sydney v Commonwealth 1904) but nevertheless the State of Victoria on 26 December 1910 commenced the land taxation and so alleged (council rates) a form of land taxation. What we really need is having competent Ministers who actually understand and comprehend constitutional issues and then they may just discover that they or their former Members of Government are the real problems, not Australians! there is ample of monies for Australians in Consolidated Revenue Funds but when you got politicians squandering it and blaming the elderly as if it is their fault then get rid of the incompetent politicians!
 
Punish those who were taxed during their working lives for the failures and ineptitude of successive governments AND OPPOSITIONS, who were all complicit in their dereliction of regulatory, administration and delivery responsibilities and duties to the Care of our Aged?
Punish we who HAVE addressed and funded our own responsibilities into our twilight years yet have fallen through the cracks of a broken, dysfunctional, unnavigable MAC system, a deflective and neglectful, dysfunctional unnavigable (apparently to their own “staff”!!!)
assessment process?
Punish those who FUNDED the derelict politicians, the derelict regulators, punish our elders who did NOT shirk their taxation obligations, nor their community responsibilities?
The REAL problem of decades of neglect by successive governments and OPPOSITIONS will not be solved by user pays deflection
of governmental and regulatory responsibilities for those already living with cataclysmic cost of living, homelessness, an unnavigable MAC debacle and an acute lack of awareness by many that MAC even exists.
If a business can conduct frequent performance, fit for purpose, relevance and fiscal audits identifying viability, future proofing challenges and opportunities; why in the HELL can thousands of bureaucrats, “experts”, politicians and regulators NOT??
Nor do they apparently comprehend that the legacy they created for the taxpayers may well be the Hellhole of Aged “Care” they will be flung into with the rest of us in their dotage !?😡
 
Punish those who were taxed during their working lives for the failures and ineptitude of successive governments AND OPPOSITIONS, who were all complicit in their dereliction of regulatory, administration and delivery responsibilities and duties to the Care of our Aged?
Punish we who HAVE addressed and funded our own responsibilities into our twilight years yet have fallen through the cracks of a broken, dysfunctional, unnavigable MAC system, a deflective and neglectful, dysfunctional unnavigable (apparently to their own “staff”!!!)
assessment process?
Punish those who FUNDED the derelict politicians, the derelict regulators, punish our elders who did NOT shirk their taxation obligations, nor their community responsibilities?
The REAL problem of decades of neglect by successive governments and OPPOSITIONS will not be solved by user pays deflection
of governmental and regulatory responsibilities for those already living with cataclysmic cost of living, homelessness, an unnavigable MAC debacle and an acute lack of awareness by many that MAC even exists.
If a business can conduct frequent performance, fit for purpose, relevance and fiscal audits identifying viability, future proofing challenges and opportunities; why in the HELL can thousands of bureaucrats, “experts”, politicians and regulators NOT??
Nor do they apparently comprehend that the legacy they created for the taxpayers may well be the Hellhole of Aged “Care” they will be flung into with the rest of us in their dotage !?😡
Your reply is very articulate and sums up the situation very well. Thanks for posting.
 
We worked and saved, what for, just so the Govt can further fill their pockets, I virtually dont have any money. My life is in their hands now as I can't afford daily medication so only take it every second day
 
Part of the reason I won't get an aged care package is because hubby has a defence pension which is considered income, we only get a part aged pension. So we pay a co payment each fortnight. We could not afford two of us paying the co payment. Just crazy. Nothing makes sense anymore unless you look at it from the idea the rich get richer and the poor get poorer
That's not fair. He gets a pension from the defence force because he was there to protect Australia. How bloody ridiculous 😡
 
You either need to be totally poor or rich to get into aged care. Gone are the days where you could afford the RAD without selling a kidney. Our unit will not even come close to any RAD and if one of us go in one before the other. the one left in the unit still wont be able to pay anything towards the others aged care costs.
 
Yes, get pregnant, get parental leave and father and mother get super on that payment. Have a baby, get more money. Get old and get less. That's fair?
I had 9 children, never had anything like parental leave or single parents pension and got $2 a month, not baby bonus, can't think what it was we got monthly. $2 per child anyway💬
 
I had 9 children, never had anything like parental leave or single parents pension and got $2 a month, not baby bonus, can't think what it was we got monthly. $2 per child anyway💬
Child endowment. That's what it was. My husband and I split up and I had 4 children and all I got from the government was $8 per month. Nothing else. My children were made wards of the state because I didn't have money to look after them, and I had 2 sons with Cystic Fibrosis. No pension or anything like that back then, just $2 per child per month child endowment 😡
 

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