Aged care providers seeking price rises
A coalition of aged care providers is calling on the federal Government to make nursing homes more expensive so the industry can grow, reports Australian Associated Press (AAP).
The multi-denominational coalition of eight national aged care provider groups, including Anglicare Australia and UnitingCare Australia, commissioned an Access Economics report into the daily cost of nursing home accommodation.
The report found that new nursing home accommodation costs $40.32 per bed, per day over 25 years to build and fit out, not including the cost of land and the care provided to the resident occupying the bed.
But under the Aged Care Act, the maximum daily accommodation payment is $26.88, a means-tested amount which can be paid by the government or levied to eligible residents to pay for the cost of constructing more nursing homes.
The coalition said the $13.44 shortfall between the cap and the true cost of accommodation is preventing the already stretched aged care industry from expanding.
Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot, should amend the law, the coalition says.
“Australia’s aged population is growing at a rate never seen before, and yet it is no longer financially viable to build new high-care aged care facilities,” the chief executives of the coalition’s member groups said in a joint statement.
“There is no reason the current government should need to defend the previous government’s flawed funding formula.
“At the same time, we are keen to protect the right of all those who need it to access aged care … and the government must continue to help out those who are unable to pay.”
