Few elderly people want to go into a nursing home but there are 100,000 on the homecare waitlist, and those who do get funding are charged thousands in fees.
Despite a waiting list of more than 100,000, the Government has released just over half of the additional packages promisedDepartment of Health figures show almost 30,000 people died in the past two years while waiting for a homecare package.
But almost a year later, Department of Health figures obtained by the ABC show just over 7,000 extra packages have been delivered — less than half the number Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced he would fund.There is another problem with home care. For the 150,000 Australians already receiving a taxpayer-funded package, the money does not go directly to them.
"It was explained in layman's terms to us that we will be allocated a certain amount of money [and] of that money you can spend it on whatever you need to spend it on for the care of your mum — but no fees were ever mentioned," he said. "That's the way the system works and I think it's reasonable if there is a level of competition in the market — that's how you drive down the cost of the provision of care," Senator Colbeck said.Are you worried about aged care in Australia?
The Government passed a law over a year ago requiring Australia's 922 homecare providers to publish their management fees on the My Aged Care website to allow elderly clients and their families to choose the best provider. Peter's home package was with insurance company Australian Unity, one of the country's biggest homecare providers.
"I got her to ask how much money was in the account, and she did, and they didn't answer," Michael said."Later in the conversation, I got to go her to ask again and [the consultant] still didn't answer. When 7.30 interviewed Senator Colbeck in March, he agreed that "we have to change the way the system operates" to prevent providers building up "unspent funds".
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