A ‘100 day’ action plan for age services
Every 71 minutes another older Australian is denied the care they need. To respond to this issue, Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) has developed an aged services action plan to support the Abbott government’s first 100 days in office.
Every 71 minutes another older Australian is denied the care they need. To respond to this issue, Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) has developed an aged services action plan to support the Abbott government’s first 100 days in office.
While LASA, a body for age service providers, was surprised to see the portfolio change for age services, it feels that the movement of responsibility into social services acknowledges that age services is “far more” than healthcare and plays an increasingly significant role in the social and economic fabric of Australia.
LASA’s 100 day action plan has a ‘top four’ to enable the Abbott government to ‘reform’ the aged care reforms that are midway through implementation. This plan includes:
Day 1:
Scrap the ‘means testing’ of residential accommodation deposits. Consumers who elect to fun their Residential Accommodation Deposit (RAD) through the sale of their home will now have the RAD amount included in their means test, an important fiscal item that has not been included in the past.
Day 15:
Announce a cost of care study to ensure funding matches the true cost of quality care. Age services funding does not match the true cost of care delivered to older Australians. The Productivity Commission Report, Caring for Older Australians, clearly advocated for clear funding increases and innovative policy initiatives for funding to match the demonstrated care provided. LASA calls on the incoming government to “be brave” and not fear looking at the cost of care study.
Day 30:
Equalise the annual cape calculation for home care and residential care. Older Australians receiving home care have their care costs averaged throughout the year (for the purposes of the funding cap). However, a consumer in a residential aged care facility must pay all of their costs up front until they reach the annual cap. This highlights the stark inequity between the treatment of the funding cap in home and residential care.
Day 100:
Commit to improve the Aged Care Approvals Round (ACAR) process. The government needs to guarantee an older Australian’s right to age services, rather than arbitrarily limiting places. This can make access to age services in the home a game of chance, and one where the odds are weighted against the consumer. The latest ACAR saw 106,000 applications for only 5,835 places.
