The Australian Government has finally bowed to public pressure and made a much-needed change to the Support at Home Program.
Showering, clinical care, continence care and dressing support will be categorised under Clinical Care rather than Independence category. This means that these much-needed services will have zero contribution by older people, with the government fully funding these services from the person’s Support at Home budget.
Older people not having to pay for these services is a great outcome! It should have been this way since the start on November 1, 2026. Industry advocates warned that older people will forgo showers and personal care due to not being able to afford them. Missing showers or continence care can have a clinical outcome. Thank goodness common sense has prevailed… however, it has been at the expense of those people who have suffered through for the past five months.
With this good news though, is the announcement that changes will not be made until October 1, 2026 – 11 months post the program implementation, six months from now.
There is no backdated reimbursement for those who have paid / continue to pay contributions for these services. People will continue to experience hardship due to a known program failure – why? If the government knows it was a mistake, bring this change in now to help older Australians.
Minister for Health and Aging, and the Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Mark Butler also announced changes to the NDIS and plans for aged care funding in relation to more aged care beds. There are also plans to reduce subsidies for private health insurance for those over 65 years.
A transcript of Minister Butler’s April 22 address to the National Press Club is available here.
