My husband is level 4 acat assessed and has a full pension and unable to be at home for his constant care required. Is the cost fully covered by govt. ? Also where are the suitable nursing homes near rockingham to mandurah area?
Hi Mg,
How much your husband pays towards an aged care home will depend on which home you choose and his financial situation. Everyone is asked to pay something towards their daily living expenses in an aged care home which is called the basic daily fee .The Australian government has set the maximum you can be charged at 85% of the single age pension. Currently at $50.66/day. But will change every March and September with indexation of the pension. The daily fee is the same for everyone whether or not you receive the age pension. If you have less than $48,500 in assets and annual income of less than $26,985.40 (or $26,465.40 for each member of a couple)the basic daily fee is all your husband will have to pay and you wont have to pay anything towards his accommodation payment which is set by the individual aged care home. But if he has more than that amount in assets he will be asked to pay an accommodation payment either as a RAD (full payment upfront) which is refundable when a resident leaves the home or DAP (a rental style payment calculated on a per day basis. This is not refundable. Or you can do a combination of both. There is also the means tested fee which assesses your husband’s financial assets and income. Your husband will have to submit an Income and Assets assessment to the Department of Human Services so the government can ascertain what extra he may need to pay towards his day to day personal care costs and nursing costs but this only applies to people who can afford it and varies depending on the outcome of your husband’s income and assets assessment. There are annual and lifetime caps on the means tested fee. If you are still living in the family home you will be considered a protected person and the family home will be exempt from the assets test. You can learn more on this website at What are the options for my contribution to age care costs? | agedcare101 With regards to finding a suitable aged care home you can search for suitable homes by clicking on Aged Care home care of this website and entering your preferred postcode or suburb. It will provide contact details for you to call. From my own personal experience I thoroughly recommend that you visit the home and spend time there to get a feel for the care offered - the staff (including the manager), meals, activities offered etc. Regards the AgedCare101 team