Though the 2024 Federal Budget disappointed aged care sector stakeholders by failing to include a response to the Aged Care Taskforce's recommendations, aged care accountants StewartBrown, of which Senior Partner Grant Corderoy was a Taskforce member, believes the Government is still committed to the proposed reforms.
In a response to the Budget sent out last Friday, StewartBrown said the Budget's exclusion of any funding initiatives to improve the financial sustainability of the aged care sector "appears to confirm" the Government is "commitment to fully or partially implement the Aged Care Taskforce recommendations to increase the funding envelope".
The main chart shows that aged care operators continue to lose money on Everyday Living and Accommodation, which the Aged Care Taskforce's recommendations address.
Direct Care is in surplus, the loss of money on Everyday Living and Accommodation sees the operating results fall into deficit.
The report points out that the Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler mentioned the Taskforce Report in his budget media releases, and the Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells also mentioned it in the Department of Health and Aged Care's post-Budget webinar, held on Wednesday, the day after the Budget.
The Department's website also seems to suggest support for the Taskforce. “The new Aged Care Act will put older people at the centre of aged care. It will also support the government’s response to the Aged Care Taskforce. These reforms are crucial to create a sustainable sector that delivers high quality care," it states.
With this in mind, StewartBrown writes, a "bipartisan approach" to the Taskforce's recommendations should "be the primary aim and mutually achieved with utmost urgency".
In the last three years, increases in the Daily Accommodation Payment and Refundable Accommodation Deposit pricing have already occurred due to the increase in the Maximum Permitted Interest Rate from 4.01% to 8.34%, yet "there has been little or no negative consumer reaction", StewartBrown points out.
Delayed implementation of the recommendations will increase the financial pressures already facing the sector, the report states.