Aged Care Insite Australia's number one aged care news source
Australia's aged care funding crisis could force people to use their superannuation savings to pay for their care, a new blueprint from the sector’s peak advocacy group has cautioned.
Released at the Aged and Community Care Providers Association’s (ACCPA) national summit last week, the new paper also canvassed a new social insurance scheme or Medicare-style levy as alternative to help fill the aged care funding black hole.
The intervention comes after harrowing details of neglect of elderly Australians came to light at the 2021 Aged Care Royal Commission.
Systemic problems facing the sector included inadequate funding, a challenge that will be further compounded as Australia’s population continues to age.
Last month, the aged care task force gathered in Adelaide to discuss a long-term solution for sustainable funding for the sector.
Solutions such as user pays and lifting the means test were discussed, but the controversial tax and levy scheme was not ruled out.
In the May federal budget, aged care costs for the 2022-23 financial year were revealed to have blown out from $24.8bn to $29.6bn, largely due to increased funding following the royal commission’s recommendations.
Funding for the sector is set to surge to almost $40bn by fiscal year 2026-27, with a further $11.3bn to fund a 15 per cent pay rise for the sector over the next four years.
Federal aged care funding only equates to 1.2 per cent of GDP, well below the OECD average of 2.5 per cent.
While the federal government will continue to contribute the lion’s share of funding, the nation’s $3.5 trillion superannuation system has been submitted as one possible solution to the funding crisis.
The ACCPA paper proposes that a proportion of people‘s superannuation savings should be set aside to pay for aged care costs.
"Plans to change superannuation to fund aged care will see people who can afford to pay more towards their care being asked to do so," said ACCPA chief Tom Symondson.
“We need to make better use of superannuation.”
“A lot of people have no super or not enough super to retire on, but this is a generation – the first generation that has significant superannuation savings.”
Do you have an idea for a story?Email [email protected]
Get the news delivered straight to your inbox
Receive the top stories in our weekly newsletter Sign up now
My whole life I was saving for my retairment.Contributing extra. Some of my friend called me stupid, spend all they money as they go. Now, I look like really stupid, becouse I saved, I will be paying for all. Taking from our finding is not the solution to fix aged care.
Yes I’m 62 and can see now how we pay 200 fortnight on health insurance . 2 of us. All that money being payed , is it worth it when you need to use it and end up paying out of pocket when public hospital as i wasn’t asked , I was given papers to do as a private patient in public hospital. I was not going to do that.
We pay a lot for med.
My mother lived on her pension but now is in care, dementia.
I was supprised to find my brother had to pay a financial advisor to be told they have to sell her house to pay for her card.. and her possession had to be sold aswell.
I would like to leave my children money as my husband works hard for his super. I think that the care place is charging over the governments limit.
So at the end of the day we will have to pay our super to get the same care as someone that hasn’t worked and payed tax. Just not right