I have been given different responses to our financial position and would be grateful for any help and assistance you can provide. Our situation is that I still work full time and my husband needs to enter residential care. We have had a Centrelink assessment done but two nursing homes have told me different financial amounts to pay. This is such a huge decision without all this confusion.
Assets been assessed at $27242 and Accessed income total as $1581.00 pf (assessed at half of value)
Letters says I need to pay a basic daily fee, no means tested fee and an accommodation payment. Can you please advise what or how I work this out
Thanks so much - very much appreciate any help you can provide
Hi JoM,
I totally understand your confusion. It is not easy trying to understand aged care finance! For residential aged care all residents pay the basic daily care fee. If a resident is assessed as having sufficient income and assets some people will be asked to pay a means tested fee as well. You do not qualify for this it appears. The accommodation payment or contribution is also dependent on your income and assets. I gather from the information you have provided that you are considered a “protected person” living in the family home and hence that has been excluded from the Income and Assets assessment. I would have thought with your husbands level of assets that he would be assessed as a partially supported resident which means he would have his accommodation costs contributed to in part by the government? With regards to the differing amounts from two different nursing homes. The reason for this should be about the accommodation payment only, as the basic daily fee is the same across all aged care homes. Aged Care homes can charge what they like for their accommodation costs and these can vary greatly depending on the facilities, location and any extra services they provide. They can also vary within the same aged care home depending on the room chosen etc .However any home charging above $550,000 has to have Government approval. Do not hesitate to call the two aged care homes and ask them to qualify their costs so you have a full understanding of what you are paying for. It may be helpful if you call the number below which is a helpline regarding income and assets in Aged care if you have further questions.1800 227 475. I hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Jill