Tackling income-tested care fees “not on the table” in short-term: department

Australian Ageing Agenda's Linda Belardi: The Department of Social Services says it has no plans to change income-tested care fee arrangements or package levels as part of the February 2017 home care reforms.As reported by Community Care Review, there have been ongoing and widespread concerns in the sector about the effectiveness of existing means testing arrangements for consumer care co-contributions and their impact on the occupancy rates of subsidised home care.The Federal Government’s commissioned evaluation of home care packages recommended addressing the perceived financial disincentive for eligible consumers to take up a lower home care level package as soon as possible, and to monitor occupancy for Level 1 places over time. Read on