The Greens have written to the Aged Care Minister, Sam Rae, urging him to act to prevent aged care recipients from having to pay up to $50 each day just to get support with showering and taking medication when changes are introduced, as the ABC reported this week.
Under the new co-payments system for aged care, due to come into effect on November 1, older Australians receiving home care for "non-clinical" supports will be subject to co-payments.
The Inspector-General of Aged Care has raised concerns that the co-payments system will cause older Australians to forgoe essential care, and have downstream impacts for hospitalisations and premature entry into the residential care system.
The Greens opposed the new co-payments system and were the only Senators to vote to remove it when the Aged Care legislation moved through the Senate last year.
No one assessed for Aged Care after 12 September 2024 will be grandfathered or subject to the "no worse off" principle, meaning potentially hundreds of thousands of participants will be on the new rules from 1 November, many of whom may be unaware that they are about to face new charges due to the confusion of the government's reforms.
Extract from the letter from Greens spokesperson for Older People, Senator Penny Allman-Payne, to the Minister for Aged Care, Sam Rae:
"All Australians want to have faith that they will be looked after in their old age, and be able to access the care that they need at the time that they need it.
"But unfortunately, these aged care reforms are taking Australia in another direction, where the worse your health is, the more you'll pay. And many older Australians will be squeezed out of care entirely by the Government's price increases."
