Cost of ageing being ignored
Aged Care Association Australia (ACAA) has expressed grave concern that the essential work of providing quality care to the nation’s elderly will be forgotten in the upcoming Budget deliberations.
ACAA chief executive officer, Rod Young, said “on current indications aged care providers could receive an increase in subsidy as low as 1.7% while health insurers have just been granted an average 6.02% increase and the general health inflation index is running at 6.5%.
“Aged care providers are becoming extremely disenchanted with repeated Government decisions to recognise the increasing cost of services in parts of the health system while ignoring the same cost pressures within the aged care system. Aged care has lived with an average increase in funding of 2.8% for the last decade whilst health insurance has been rewarded with an average increase per year of in excess of 5%. This is an iniquitous situation that degrades the level of service being provided to Australia’s elderly citizens,” said Rod Young.
“Government must recognise that aged care providers are operating in the same space as hospitals and other health providers and therefore affected by the same cost pressures. To expect that aged care should have to provide quality care services on a 1.7% increase is asking the impossible,” said Mr Young.
“The Government referred the issue of an additional index for aged care to an interdepartmental committee whose deliberations will be unknown until Budget night,” he said.
“Therefore, aged care providers will not know until May 12 whether they are trying to survive on a subsidy increase of 1.7% or at best 3.45% for financial year 2009-2010; considerably lower than private health insurance.
“With over $5 billion in lump sum contributions invested on behalf of residents it is hoped aged care providers can be treated as generously as private health insurers in these difficult financial times.
ACAA represents over one thousand aged care providers operating seniors housing, retirement communities, community care and residential care services across Australia.
