Aged Care Steps provide submission response to recent Aged Care Bill (2024)
Aged Care Steps (ACS) has been a recognised leader in aged care advice since its establishment in 2012, with team members actively involved in aged care advice since 1997.
Our primary mission is to assist older Australians and their families in making informed financial decisions regarding the cost of aged care services and how to structure personal finances to fund their contributions (fees) – whether for home care or residential care.
An experienced industry voice
As our expertise lies in assisting older Australians and their families with financial decision-making, we felt it our responsibility to provide feedback to the recently-tabled Aged Care Bill 2024, and have supplied a written submission to the Australian Government with a focus on the implications of Chapter 4 in the Aged Care Bill 2024.
Through our extensive work in aged care advice, Aged Care Steps has witnessed the challenges faced by clients when navigating aged care services. These challenges often arise from factors such as:
A lack of understanding about the aged care system and the calculation of fees
The spread of misinformation from friends, family, community members and unlicensed “help” services
Administrative inefficiencies within Services Australia and Centrelink processing
Perceptions of excessively high user contributions for care services
Family disputes and conflicts regarding care decisions
The complexity of legislation that has created a complicated framework for calculating aged care fees
Misalignment between aged care providers' preferences and legislative principles, leading to the communication of incorrect information to clients
Changes in people’s personal or financial circumstances over time
Reliance on advice from unqualified and unlicensed sources.
Submission on Aged Care Bill:
Chapter 4 of the Aged Care Bill 2024 outlines the proposed framework for funding aged care services through a combination of Government subsidies and user-pays contributions. Aged Care Steps supports the user-pays principle, and based on our experience, we recognise that many clients accessing care services have the financial capacity to contribute more towards the services they receive.
In our submission response, ACS provides professional insight into the proposed rules, their alignment with previous reports and taskforces, and the impact of proposed barriers. We also focus on the importance of regulating the advice given to clients and the role licensed and accredited financial advisers play in ensuring clients receive quality advice to make effective decisions.
We invite our professional community to read our submission, and join in the greater discussion as the Government continues to refine the details of the tabled Bill.