Articles for your marketing team to use to send to your COI’s.
Christmas can be a stressful and emotional time for many people, in addition to the cooking, presents and visiting schedules many people are also faced with the need to look at aged care for themselves or a loved one.
The Federal Budget 2021 saw a huge investment into aged care, a total of $17.7 billion in fact. On the same day as the budget the government also provided their response to the Aged Care Royal Commission. Of the 148 recommendations in the Royal Commission’s final report the government has accepted (or accepted in principle) 126, with the remaining recommendations subject to further consideration with six not accepted at all. The Australian Government Response to the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety details how the $17.7bn will be spent with a five-year, five pillar plan for reforming aged care.
Christmas can be a stressful and emotional time for many people, in addition to the cooking, presents and visiting schedules many people are also faced with the need to look at aged care for themselves or a loved one.
Downsizing is an exciting time that normally sees significant changes to your lifestyle and your budget. Here are my top 5 tips for anyone thinking about downsizing. 1. Find a community you want to be a part of While normally in real estate the advice is “location, location, location”, and proximity to family and friends and amenities is an important aspect, a big part of your enjoyment in a retirement community will be the interactions with other residents – to quote a great Australian movie “it’s the vibe” – get to know the other residents by attending open days and other village events. 2. Understand your contract Your legal ownership has wide reaching implications so it is important to know what it is, what rights and responsibilities are attached to it (including after you leave) and the impacts on your pension entitlement and eligibility for rent assistance. 3. Do your sums. The costs of moving to a retirement community can vary widely. If you are comparing the costs of moving to one or another it may help to break the costs into three categories: the ingoing, the ongoing and the outgoing. 4. Have a budget And make sure that it
If you have searched for the answer to “How much can an aged care resident pay for care?” you will invariably end up with an answer that is $X “up to the cost of care”… So what is “the cost of care”? In a nutshell the cost of care is the amount that the facility would receive from the government if the resident paid nothing. Here’s how it works. The primary funding source for aged care facilities is the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI). The ACFI designates a level of funding based on the resident having care needs that are Nil, Low, Medium or High in three domains: Complex Healthcare, Activities of Daily Living and Behaviours. On top of the ACFI aged care facilities can also receive supplements for “care extras” like oxygen and enteral feeding. If a resident had care needs of Medium in all domains, the ACFI for that resident would be $143.78 per day. ACFI Level Activities of Daily living Behaviour Complex Health Care Nil $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Low $36.65 $8.37 $16.37 Medium $79.80 $17.36 $46.62 High $110.55 $36.19 $67.32 Why does it matter? Well for some residents they will get a pleasant surprise when they discover
