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What does the Australian Government pay?
Aged care homes are subsidised to make care fees affordable for everyone. The Australian Government spends more than $7.1 billion annually to support the care for older Australians living in aged care homes. The rate of government subsidy that homes receive is based on the aged care provider’s appraisal of each resident’s care needs.
There are more than 180 000 operational residential aged care places provided through more than 2 900 aged care homes (including those in residential care and flexible care (more information)).
The number of community care packages has expanded by 40 percent since 2002. In 2009-10, more than 42 700 packages in Community Aged Care Packages (CACP),5 590 packages in Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) and 2,580 packages in Extended Aged Care at Home - Dementia were provided to the community.
Government funding to CACP in 2009-10 was $508.7 million. Funding for Extended Aged Care in the Home was $206 million with a further $99.6 million being provided to Extended Aged Care in the Home – Dementia.
The Aged Care Funding Instrument
The rate of government subsidy that approved aged care homes receive is based on the aged care provider’s appraisal of each resident’s care needs. The Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) replaced the Resident Classification Scale (RCS) as the mechanism to allocate this Government subsidy from 20 March 2008.Read more: Classifying your resident status
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