I was wondering if someone would be able to help me,
My husband (75 yrs) is in the later stages of Parkinson’s disease and also has PSTD and Pulminary lung disease . Caring for him is becoming more difficult and we are having to consider our future options. I’m his wife and have been his carer for over 12 years . He has already been qualified by ACAT for Respite or full Care.
We own our home and everything is 50% shared. Our home is about $260.000 and fully owned . Our finance and assets ( cash ,car , furniture) are approx $ 75.000.
If he goes into care what happens to our saved finances and home ? I am 59 and currently on Carers Pension and Carers allowance and he is on Disability Pension with a small Pension from the UK ( part pension) and a small part War Pension from the UK.
His immediately thoughts are that he is worried what will happen to me if he passes away as I’m not eligible for a Pension yet and he says there is no Widows Pension and I’m not in the best of health , in effect this is what is holding him back from considering going into a nursing home as he doesn’t want to have to sell the home to pay for his care and leave me to manage on my own.
I’m stuck at what to do or what the future holds for us both yet I need to be able to plan both for his care and what will happen to me, any advice will be gratefully received thank you.
Im feeling very relieved after reading this post and reply. Our situation is almost exactly the same. I am 59 as well and have a few health issues. My husband is 68 and he also has Parkinsons and is starting to have cognitive issues which concerned me in the event I couldnt care for him in the future before I reached pension age. Our assets outside of our home are very similar as well. He has been approved for residentail respite and full time care and we are approved and on the wait list fo
Sorry for the slight delay in replying. We wanted to be sure we were providing you with the right advice. Robert Craven from Affinity Aged Care Financial Services has the following to say.
On the information provided, if your husband was to move to a residential care facility, you would be considered a protected person. As such, your home would be exempt from both the Aged Care and the Age Pension assessments.
Consequently, their only assessable assets would be the $75,000 (cash, car, furniture etc). Centrelink assess couples assets 50%/50% so the husbands assets would be assessed at $37,500. As this is below the $47,500 Minimal Permissible Asset Value, he will be assessed as a fully supported resident. He would not be required to pay a Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD) or a Daily Accommodation Contribution (DAC). His only cost would be the Basic Daily Care Fee which is set at 85% of the basic single age pension; c to permanent residential care, you would no longer qualify for the Carers Pension or the Carers Allowance. If you are unable to return to work because of your health, you should apply for a Disability Support Pension. If you do not qualify for this pension, then your only other option would be to apply for the Newstart Allowance. You will qualify for the full Age Pension on her 67th birthday.
We hope this helps.
The agedcare101 team