The best decisions around how you pay for care are based on careful consideration of a wide range of rules from different sections of Government.
We help you understand only what applies to your unique situation, to save you time and eliminate confusion.
See below for some key areas from 5 different Government departments we refer to.
Or call us and we can save time by working out exactly what applies to you, and plan the best way forward.
My Aged Care is your starting point for accessing Australian Government funded aged care services and holds a lot of information.
The main sections of the website we direct clients towards:
Fee Estimator to get started on a means tested care fee calculation - although it is very limited in explaining choices around how to pay, and whether the resident can be treated as a concessional.
Find a Provider by Name if you have the name of the place and want quick access to more information. There is a significant amount of useful information about individual aged care homes that is a great start for assessing quality.
Aged Care Home Costs and Fees is your most complete description of aged care home fees. Make sure you look closely at the section on “How do these fees work”.
There are some specific forms that need to be completed in the process of applying for an aged care home.
These forms are necessary to clarify the amount of means tested care fee the resident will pay, and to notify Centrelink of changes in financial situation based around the sale of the former home.
The age pension is an important part of the aged care cashflows and how you pay for care will impact age pension rates.
We calculate Age Pension eligibility as part of our process, and seek to make the most of any opportunity to maximise Government support.
Some people my become eligible for the age pension for the first time, and other people may lose the pension in the process of organising assets to pay for care.
Understanding the impact of decisions around how you pay for care is vital.
A whole range of fees and thresholds change is March and September each year, as well as at the start of the year. We incorporate these changes in the financial modelling we undertake for clients trying to work out the best way to pay for care. In terms of Residential Aged Care Homes, this schedule provides updated information on the following:
Thresholds used to determine Means Tested Care Fees, as well as updates to maximum annual and lifetime limit
The interest rate used to work out Daily Accommodation Payments when a Refundable Accomodation Deposit is not paid in full.
The maximum amount a concessional resident can be asked to contribute to accomodation costs.
Note: This schedule includes a range of other information not relevant to Residential Aged Care
The Department also published a range of fee scenarios. These are complicated and insightful examples of how aged care fees are calculated.
Some Tax considerations that may be of interest to families transitioning a loved one to residential aged care:
Treatment of Capital Gains Tax on inherited assets:
We encourage our clients to consider the benefit in selling asset sales in the lifetime of the resident (and their spouse) against the likely outcome in the hands of beneficiaries.
Treatment of the former residence for Capital Gains Tax
Note: This is complex and is outside the scope of our advice. The ATO website is helpful in explaining the rules.
This resource is very useful for more information about:
The treatment of the former home if a spouse, dependent or carer live there,
The “2-year rule”, where the former home is exempt from means testing. After 2 years the former home is assessable as an asset, and the resident is assessed as being a “non-home owner” for age pension means testing.
Clarification of “illness separated” members of a couple.
Carer Conversations is a series of Podcasts by the Benevolent Society in partnership with the Carer Gateway.
We thoroughly recommend a listen to the the podcasts about transitioning a loved one into aged care, and the importance of a Will, Power of Attorney and Enduring Guardian.