The Federal Government’s Aged Care Taskforce, which was established to advise the Government on ways to make Australia’s aged care funding more “fair and equitable”, has opened submissions on its six draft funding principles.
The principles were developed by the Taskforce as a foundation for discussion about the reforms and to provide a framework for the Taskforce’s advice to Government.
This follows the Minister for Aged Care, Anika Wells, stating two weeks ago:
“We’re going to have a big public consultation process and details about that will be out in the next couple of days.
“It’s a transformative thing that we are doing, and we’ve got to take everybody with us,” the Minister said.
DRAFT PRINCIPLES
The draft principles are:
Principle 1 – The aged care system should enable and encourage participants to remain in their home for as long as they wish and can do so.
Principle 2 – Aged care funding arrangements and their outcomes should be fair, simple, transparent and sustainable.
Principle 3 – Government is and will continue to be the major funder of aged care. Government funding should be focused on care costs. Personal contributions should be focused on accommodation and everyday living costs with a sufficient safety net.
Principle 4 – Government and participant contributions should be sufficient to provide quality and appropriate care delivered by a skilled workforce, allowing and encouraging innovation by the health, hospital and aged care systems.
Principle 5 – There should be accountability for funding received from government and participants, how it is spent, and the quality of the services provided.
Principle 6 – The residential sector should have access to sufficient, and new, capital to encourage the development of new accommodation and upgrades to existing accommodation.
SUBMISSION QUESTIONS
The Taskforce is asking that submissions be based on eight questions:
- Is Australia’s aged care system and how you pay for aged care easy to understand? If not, why not?
- What does “fairness” in aged care funding and care services look like?
- Is funding for Australia’s aged care system sustainable? If not, what is needed to make it sustainable?
- What costs do you think consumers in aged care should contribute to and to what extent? How is this different for care, compared with everyday living expenses or accommodation?
- What does quality and appropriate care mean to you?
- What does innovation in aged care mean to you? How can funding support it?
- What is the role of Government versus private investment in funding upgrades and constructing new facilities? Is the role different in rural and remote locations?
- Is there anything else you think the Taskforce members need to know about Australia’s aged care system?
Submissions can be emailed to agedcaretaskforce@health.gov.au or posted to:
Attention: Aged Care Taskforce
Department of Health and Aged Care
Mail Drop Point 7 South
GPO Box 9848
Canberra ACT 2601
Australia
Submissions will be accepted until 5pm AEST, 31 August 2023.
The SOURCE: Public consultation – this is merely window dressing and looks to have been done in haste.
