Budget breakdown: What is in it for older Australians

Despite advocacy and aged care peak bodies vocalising their disappointment that portions of the Budget were not adequate in some areas, aged care ministers say they put older Australians at the forefront of Tuesday night’s Budget.

Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler, and Minister for Aged Care, Anika Wells, say restoring dignity to older people was at the forefront of the Budget, including through the investment in aged care.

“Our investments help restore safety, dignity and respect of older Australians,” Minister Wells says.

Minister Butler adds that, “Older Australians deserve respect and dignity in aged care and this Budget takes the first steps to deliver the reforms that they so badly need”.

But what does the Budget entail for you? Here is Talking Aged Care’s Budget breakdown.

Reform packages for aged care

A multitude of funding packages have been allocated to fix a variety of problems in the aged care sector.

This Budget addresses 23 out of the 148 recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety in a bid to get the sector up to scratch.

The main standouts in the Budget include funding for the increases in the number of care minutes allocated to older people in residential aged care, as well as access to a Registered Nurse (RN) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by 2023.

If you access residential aged care, you will receive an average of 200 minutes a day – including 40 from a RN – from October 1, 2023.

The reform packages within the Budget include:

• $23.1 million over one year for research and consultation to reform home care
• $9.9 million over two years for the appointment of an Aged Care Complaints Commissioner
• $38.7 million over four years for the appointment of an Inspector General of Aged Care
• $5 million over three years to improve food and nutrition in aged care facilities
• $26.1 million over four years to fund individual facilities around the country
• $43.8 million over three years for the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) Transition Fund, which provides subsidies to approved residential aged care providers
• $3.6 million over one year to implement the personal care workers registration scheme to screen carers
• $68.5 million for four years to strengthen Regional Stewardship of Aged Care
• $312.6 million over four years for a technological overhaul to assist administrative workloads

To address serious workforce shortages, $185.3 million has also been allocated to help fix the crisis, with a workforce package of almost $30 million being allocated to upskilling and training frontline aged care workers to get them into the sector.

Budget benefits for older Australians

The Government announced in Tuesday’s Budget that medicines will become cheaper for the first time in its 75-year history.

The maximum cost of general scripts under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) will fall and the maximum co-payment of $42.50 will drop to $30 ($787.1m) from January 1, 2023.

In a similar vein, almost $70 million over four years has been allocated to increase the income threshold for the seniors’ health card from $61,284 to $90,000 for singles and from $98,054 to $144,000 (combined) if you have a partner.

The amount you can earn before your pension is reduced will be increased from $7,800 to $11,800.

Also, $74 million will be provided to encourage pensioners to downsize homes by extending the assets test exemption for principal home sale proceeds from 12 months to 24 months.

For those looking to put the proceeds of a house sale into super, the minimum age for downsizer contributions to super has been lowered from 60 to 55.

This will allow you to make a one-off post-tax contribution to their superannuation of up to $300,000 per person from the proceeds of selling your home.

Social security deeming rates will also be frozen at their current levels until June 2024 if you rely on income from deemed financial investments like money from selling your home, as well as the pension, to deal with the rising cost of living.

Aged care experts have their say

Aged care peak bodies and other organisations say the contents of Tuesday’s Budget is a step in the right direction, but also note there is still room for improvement.

Aged & Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA) welcomes the investment into the sector, but also acknowledges that decades of underfunding will take time to fix.

“There’s no denying the incredible pressure facing the aged care sector, including workforce shortages, the ongoing spectre of COVID-19, and the legacy of decades of underfunding,” says ACCPA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Tom Symondson.

“The pressure is not just financial – we have welcomed funding for additional care minutes but there is no escaping the fact that it requires us to recruit thousands of extra staff in the context of record low unemployment and a global shortage of nurses.”

Mr Symondson adds that to give older Australians the care they deserve, Government and providers need to work together to fix current funding shortages and workforce shortfalls.

National Seniors Chief Advocate, Ian Henschke, had hoped there would be a stronger solution to help fix the workforce shortage problem by reducing financial penalties for working pensioners.

The advocacy organisation were pushing for changes to the work requirements for pensioners prior to the Budget dropping.

“The workforce crisis in the care sector could be eased by allowing pensioners to work, and work more, without being financially penalised,” he explains.

“… [We] need a full income exemption to fill shortages… letting pensioners work in the care sector without being penalised is a win for Government, a win for the economy and a win for pensioners.”

Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) CEO, Craig Gear, wants to see more measures to address the issues across in-home care, which often sees older people prematurely entering residential aged care.

“A flexible, appropriately funded Support at Home program, developed in consultation with older people, is crucial,” Mr Gear explains.

“Interim measures must be put in place to ensure older people don’t fall through the gaps.”

Dementia Australia has also reiterated its pleas for compulsory dementia education to be embedded in the aged care reforms, after only $26.1 million of the Budget was allocated for individual aged care homes supporting people living with dementia.

Dementia Australia’s Executive Director Services, Leanne Emerson, said dementia education could prevent many incidents involving people living with dementia in residential aged care.

“Dementia education leads to fewer high-risk incidents, lower rates of inappropriate use of medication and more positive staff attitudes and morale, which ultimately results in better service delivery and quality of life for people living with dementia,” she says.

“Compulsory dementia education is essential to the success of all of these initiatives.”

How do you think the latest Budget will affect you? Let us know in the comments below.