Aged care system needs overhaul: Australia’s chief Catholic healthcare body.
By Anthony Barich
THE future of aged care is in jeopardy if it’s not made more affordable, Catholic Health Australia has told the Federal Government.
CHA’s recently commissioned independent economic modelling on whether there is enough revenue in the aged care system to meet the cost of delivering aged care today found that, nationally, current subsidies for residential aged care means centres lose $13 per bed on average. CHA advised the Federal Government that improving subsidies for aged care and removing barrier for those who can contribute to aged care will ensure there’s enough money for aged care to break even, enabling providers to care for older Australians in the future.
“The current system isn’t viable,” CHA chief executive Martin Laverty told The Record. “If services are unviable now, it diminishes our ability to provide services to those who would otherwise miss out.”
The viability and sustainable future of national aged care will be a focus at CHA’s August 17-19 national conference in Hobart, as they will be of the Federal Government’s three major reviews of healthcare currently underway: the Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, the Preventive Health Strategy Review and the Primary Healthcare Review
All three reviews focus on where scarce resources should be best invested in the healthcare system, as, according to Mr Laverty, up to three-quarters of the average Australian’s healthcare expenditure happens from the age of 74 upwards.
The three reviews will be completed and published by September, and CHA is confident the Federal Government will respond positively to its recommendations, as the Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and the Preventive Health Strategy Review have already acknowledged the social determinants of health (the support of extended family, schooling, employment, income, accommodation).
Mr Laverty said the Catholic health and aged sector has contributed to those reports but is looking now to the government for direction in how to cope with the ageing population so that hospitals are not being used for healthcare.
He said the situation is so bad that many are in hospitals today as they can’t get into aged care.
He called on the government to recognise that, currently, a person’s wealth dictates their health. He said that those earning more than the national average of $56,000 a year live four years longer than those below it, and the gap widens the more or less people earn.
“Why is it that in 2009 your take-home pay dictates how long you’ll live?” Mr Laverty said. “The Australian healthcare system should be closing that gap, and these three enquiries have the opportunity to address this.”