The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety was established on October 8, 2018, and recommended in 2021 that there be a new Aged Care Act.
The Aged Care Bill 2024 got the green light in parliament on November 24 and is likely to become law from July 1 this year. There are too many proposed reforms to address here but interesting changes are:
• a shake-up of the Home Care Packages, funding and contribution arrangements. The current four-level funding classifications will increase to eight new funding classifications. There will be three categories – clinical care’, ‘independence support’ and ‘everyday living assistance’ – with the government fully funding clinical care.
• for those going into Aged Care facilities, the Refundable Accommodation Deposit will be docked 2 per cent per year up to a maximum of 10 per cent. If you choose the Daily Accommodation Payment instead, this will now be subject to CPI indexation.
• a ‘lifetime cap’ of $130,000 for support at home and non-clinical care in Aged Care.
• for those already in the system – the government guarantees you won’t be worse off.
I’ll watch with interest for the practical effect of these ‘once-in-a-generation’ reforms.