Medical specialists’ website turns out a failure as predicted
Published 28 January 2020
ASKING medical specialists to be open about how much they charge is a reasonable demand. Expecting them to do so was always going to be pointless as a website developed for the purpose of fee comparison shows.
One in three advance care directives in nursing homes prove pointless
Published 28 January 2020
RESEARCH led by Advance Care Planning Australia found almost a third of Advance Care Directives (ACDs) audited in Australian residential aged care facilities to be invalid and unable to be used to guide treating doctors.
Funeral provider ripping off the dead
Published 28 January 2020
INVOCARE, one of the largest funeral providers in Australia, has taken the idea of being late for your own funeral to the next level and assumed that, even if you're not late, it will charge you a late fee!
Cheques are checking out
Published 28 January 2020
Cheques are checking out and king cash is thinking about abdication, but we're not quite there yet.
Social Security and Superannuation updates for 2020
Published 28 January 2020
HERE are some of the retirement income changes that will come in in 2020 with older people now on Newstart moving to the equally miserly and misleadingly named Jobseeker Allowance.
Downsides and upsides of downsizing
Published 28 January 2020
IT doesn't tell us anything anyone following this issue doesn't know, but the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) report looking into the issue of retirees downsizing from the family home into something smaller gives a good overview of the reasons people do and don't downsize. [more]
Government’s response to Royal Commission interim report won’t solve decades of Government aged care neglect
Published 26 November 2019
Successive Governments have neglected aged care and turned it into the mess it is today. The measures announced by the Prime Minister on 25 November 2019 only seem to take the waiting list for the Home Care Packages program seriously. [more]
BEGGING TO DIFFER: Aged Care Royal Commission Nails It
Published 22 November 2019
The Aged Care Royal Commission's interim Report Neglect has left absolutely no wriggle room for Government and industry to pretend that the aged care system is sound at heart. Yes, there is a systemic problem. In fact, there are many. [more]
Early action on home care
Published 22 November 2019
The Department of Health is taking early action to maximise the number of Home Care Packages.
Billions extra: the cost of good aged care for everyone
Published 22 November 2019
Aged care is in terrible shape, but how much would it cost to rehabilitate it? An estimate.
Gold Coast nursing home forced evacuation: report out
Published 22 November 2019
On 11 July 2019, sixty-nine residents at the Earle Haven nursing home on the Gold Coast were evacuated without warning due to a commercial dispute between the approved provider and the subcontractor actually providing the care.
Australia’s glorious retirement income system, really?
Published 22 November 2019
For ordinary Australians to have a chance of a retirement as adequately funded as retirements in The Netherlands and Denmark, the compulsory contribution rate needs to go up to 12 per cent pronto.
Newstart liquid asset test set to wring you out some more
Published 22 November 2019
Not only is Newstart set at a rate which can't sustain life, the Government wants to absolutely make sure that you've spent your last cent before giving it you.
Super lost and franking credits wasted
Published 22 November 2019
During the great franking credit debate much was made of retail and industry funds' ability to still fully utilise franking credits, something your typical SMSF would not have been able to do had the new policy been implemented. Turns out retail and industry funds can't as a rule be bothered with franking credits and anything to do with income tax. [more]
Advance Care Directive pitfalls
Published 22 November 2019
Doctors tend not to be all that keen on Advance Care Directives. It is prudent to assume that they will take any excuse to ignore your Advance Care Directive if they think they have a better idea.
Government missing in aged care action for 20 years: Royal Commission fails to tell us ‘how come?’
Published 31 October 2019
The Aged Care Royal Commission’s Interim Report published today is very clear about the fact that successive Governments have done nothing to fix the very serious and grave problems afflicting aged care for well over twenty years, but the Interim Report fails to identify the reasons for Government inaction. [more]
NSW Deputy Premier calls on Federal Government to reconsider position on Newstart
Published 24 October 2019
Minister John Barilaro has suggested the Federal Government reconsider their position on Newstart today at NCOSS’s 'Putting Regional Needs on the Map' event and he has CPSA's support.
60,000 will die waiting for home care: forward estimates
Published 24 October 2019
Approximately half the home care waiting list will die waiting for care even though the numbers on it have fallen for the first time. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of packages remain in administrative limbo.
Financial collapse of nursing home industry narrowly averted
Published 24 October 2019
The Australian Government cut $2 billion out of residential aged care, then hastily gave some of that money back to avoid tens of thousands of frail and elderly being turfed out onto the street.
Royal Commission: nursing home staffing light years behind the rest of the world
Published 24 October 2019
A RESEARCH paper by the Aged Care Royal Commission has found that residential aged care in Australia is grossly understaffed when compared internationally and that the majority of nursing homes provide bad care. Please note: that's the Royal Commission saying it, not CPSA for a change. [more]
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