NEWS&VIEWS

Meet The Senior Australian Of The Year

Calma has dedicated his life to improving the lives of all Australians and particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. For the past four decades, he has championed the importance of empowerment – a passion that runs through his work in education, training, employment, health, justice reinvestment and development.

He is a former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Race Discrimination

Commissioner and served as a senior Australian diplomat in India and Vietnam. He works to create opportunities for Indigenous voices to be heard and to build partnerships to improve their health, wellbeing and economic independence. His landmark 2005 report calling for the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to be closed within a generation laid the groundwork for the Close the Gap campaign. From: Australian of the Year

Home Care Package Charges Update

My Aged Care has announced important changes to Home Care Package (HCP) charges, which came into effect on January 1. The aim is to reduce excessive charges and improve your ability to compare prices between providers. Here, an outline of the changes and how they might impact you.

What is changing?

From 1 January 2023, there will be set limits on what providers can charge you for care and package management. In addition, providers will no longer be able to charge you exit charges; additional costs for third-party goods or services; or package management charges in a month where you do not receive services other than care management (except the first month).

Most HCP providers already charge less than the new limits for care and package management. If this is the case with your provider, you won’t see changes. However, if your provider is charging above the new limits, they should have reduced their prices from January.

Some providers may need to adjust their pricing models, which may mean there are some reasonable increases in charges. But it ultimately ensures that you only ever pay the published price.

If your provider needs to lower their charges, they must let you know. If your provider increases their prices, they must seek your consent before doing so.

For details, see the HCP Pricing Update fact sheet on the Department of Health and Aged Care website, health.gov.au.

Courtesy myagedcare.gov. au/news-and-updates.