The Australian government’s upcoming Support at Home system for aged care is raising serious concerns, with pensioners potentially facing out-of-pocket expenses of up to $100 a week due to required co-contributions.
This issue was spotlighted during Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler’s recent interview on ABC Adelaide Mornings with David Bevan, where he struggled to provide a direct answer to the critical question of whether a weekly cost of $100 per week could fall on pensioners.
A caller, Hannah from Yankalilla, raised the alarm about the financial burden of domestic assistance under the new system. “I’ve done the maths,” Hannah explained. “If you have two hours of cleaning, two of gardening, two of shopping, and showers three times a week, you’re going to be out of pocket as a pensioner for about $100. And that’s on conservative costs.”
She added that such expenses could force older Australians to make impossible choices: “What are people going to do? They’re going to choose between going shopping or having a shower and having food or medication. It’s going to affect their mental health, their general health, their skin integrity.”
When asked directly by host David Bevan if pensioners could indeed be out of pocket $100 a week, Minister Butler failed to offer a definitive answer. “I haven’t brought the tables in with me,” he said, noting that the new financing arrangements were “quite complicated.”
Minister Butler elaborated on the broader framework, stating that taxpayers would continue to bear 75% of aged care costs and that co-contributions would be calibrated based on income and assets.
However, he did not address the caller’s specific scenario, leaving many to question how realistic the no-worse-off principle will be for pensioners relying on these services.
Under the Support at Home system, aged care users will contribute between 5–50% for ‘Independence’ services and 17.5–80% for ‘Everyday Living’ services.
While self-funded retirees face the highest co-contributions, even pensioners could experience significant out-of-pocket costs, particularly for non-clinical services like cleaning, gardening, and shopping assistance.
Critics argue that these expenses could disproportionately affect vulnerable Australians.
Hannah’s calculation is rooted in the SCHADS (Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services) Award, which mandates a minimum two-hour shift for support workers. This requirement means higher costs for essential services, even for pensioners receiving government support.
The Minister’s admission that the system is “very complicated” did little to inspire confidence. He explained that different rules apply depending on a person’s income and asset status and whether the service is clinical or non-clinical.
However, for many Australians, the complexity could make it difficult to understand and manage their costs.
Host David Bevan pressed Butler to confirm whether the Coalition also supported these changes. The Minister affirmed that both sides of politics had agreed to the co-contribution model but downplayed the financial impact, describing it as a “pretty marginal” change to taxpayer contributions.
The financial strain of the Support at Home system is not just about numbers – it’s about the quality of life for older Australians. As Hannah pointed out, choosing between essential services and basic needs is not a decision anyone should have to make in their later years.
Support At Home is, indeed, a total dog’s breakfast.
The current Home Care Package system is already very complex – and my Clients struggle to understand it.
Support At Home is massively MORE complex – and even professionals working in the system are struggling to understand it.
Three aspects are clear:
1. Pensioners will be unable to pay the extra costs and will end up compromising their health by cancelling services they need. Many will end up in hospital and then residential care as a result – costing the Commonwealth far more. Some will die prematurely as a direct consequence of Support At Home.
2. Clients and Client family members supports will find it massively hard to understand and to budget. Complaints to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission will go through the roof.
3. The Administration and Care Management costs for Home Care Providers will skyrocket, just as Package Management fees are abolished, Care Management is capped at half the current maximum, and a while new set of Aged Care Quality Standards is rolled out. Providers Will exit Home Care, causing market failure and stranding Clients.
Support At Home is a disaster scheduled to commence on 1 July.
The whole system is already complicated. I have been trying to navigate it for my parents. My mother needs a lot more assistance and has been approved for level 3 HCP months ago yet, the funding is not available until, I dont know when. The issue is she may have died before she can even get more support.
In regards to the new convoluted contributions, this is just adding another layer of complexity. Currently the providers already are milking the accounts high charges for management out of the funds before even providing the services. I am an educated woman however, I needed to access and advocate to help me navigate a broken system. With this help it is still far too hard so I wonder how many people are not even being supported or just giving up and ‘managing’ without the help they are entitled to. We are talking about people who paid their taxes and worked hard all their lives to only be disadvantaged by a system that is not transparent due to the over complexity of the system.