What the Budget must do for older Australians
30 September 2020
Maybe one-off payments, maybe new pension indexation mechanisms, maybe unrestricted supply of aged care, the 6 October Budget will have lots of things in it.
Made easier: the things you have to do after you die
30 September 2020
Dying isn’t as easy as it used to be. When someone dies up to forty government and private organisations need to be notified, not to mention online accounts needing to be closed. There's a scheme to do it all in one fell swoop.
Aged care quality framework out, quality indicators in – Royal Commission
30 September 2020
The aged care industry has for decades resisted meaningful monitoring of aged care quality, which shows in the ridiculously vague aged care standards the industry must comply with. The industry is now complaining how onerous it is to demonstrate compliance with the new, vague standards that came in 2019, but they also resist the replacement of standards with a suite of meaningful quality indicators that are based on information providers already collect as part of and during the course of normal operations.
COVID and flu in nursing homes: when bad news is good news
23 September 2020
Finally the Government is publishing information about COVID-19 in nursing homes across Australia. That's six months into the pandemic. But the report the Government put out tries to spin the mismanagement of the pandemic in nursing homes as .... a win!
Don’t go for brokers in your Home Care Package
23 September 2020
WANT to be in control of your Home Care Package and decide who comes into your home? Care brokers are not the answer, negotiating with bona fide approved Home Care Package providers is.
Changes to JobSeeker will make people HomeSeekers
23 September 2020
Use rounding and rental affordability for some people on social security is nil, says a report by Anglicare.
Are smart meters a dumb idea?
16 September 2020
Smart energy meter, it sounds like lower power bills, but the full price may be paid for in loss of privacy.
How much is home care allowed to cost?
16 September 2020
How much is home care allowed to cost? More or less or the same as residential aged care? The Aged Care Royal Commission says: the same, but CPSA disagrees.
Ducks
16 September 2020
This week's Poet's Corner is occupied by Victor Borg with a sweeping review of COVID-19, inflation, pension indexation and .... ducks! All in just four lines, too.
20 Years on: are pensioners nett payers of GST or not?
8 September 2020
Back in 2000 pensioners started to receive compensation for the increase in the cost of living caused by the GST. So, the question is: twenty years on, does the compo still cover the GST that pensioners pay or is the system letting them down?
Mystery: cashless transactions and demand for banknotes hit record highs at same time
8 September 2020
By some reports from pensioners unable to pay for lunch in cold hard cash, cash has become obsolete, so how can it be that cashless transactions hitting an all-time high happens at the same time that the Reserve Bank of Australia was compelled by demand to print and distribute billions and billions of dollars in polymer bank notes?
Supposedly loss-making aged care sector to spend zillions on PR
8 September 2020
What do you make of an aged care sector that has turned crying poor into a fine art but that is set to spend an unspecified amount on a PR campaign to explain how good they are despite having no money to do a good job? Truth-poor?
Power bills going down, gas bills not
1 September 2020
Electricity prices are on their way down thanks to renewables, but gas bills will remain high as an agreement between Government and gas producers proves to be ineffective.
Smaller, not for profit and government nursing homes the best
1 September 2020
A research report on aged care quality indicators makes it clear that Australia could move immediately from the wishy-washy, vague aged care standards it uses at the moment to an independent, transparent, routine monitoring and public reporting system.
Boarding houses COVID-19 risk could be as bad as nursing homes
1 September 2020
UNHYGIENIC and crowded, traditional older-style boarding houses are COVID-19 death traps. Almost 1,500 residents (11 per cent) are aged 60 and over.
Poet’s corner – Through thick and thin
26 August 2020
Edward Black, another bard in CPSA's stable of poets-in-residence to mix a mataphor, reflects on skin.
Check your teeth during COVID-19
26 August 2020
AUSTRALIANS over the age of 75 have on average twenty-four decayed, missing or filled teeth. COVID-19 risk is no excuse to not have them checked.
Common heart test cover removed from Medicare
26 August 2020
The Australian Government has made changes to the Medicare Benefits Schedule that will mean pensioners reliant on Medicare may be out of pocket if they need a common heart test.
Nursing homes COVID-19 infections straight to hospital?
26 August 2020
There's something yukky about the aged care sector's sanctimonious calls for immediate hospitalisation of COVID-19 positive residents, but the sector has form.
Royal Commission calls out Government on blatant aged care unpreparedness
19 August 2020
No matter how much the panel consisting of the Department of Health's Secretary, the assistant-Secretary for Aged Care and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner tried to filibuster their way through a Royal Commission hearing, the Royal Commission was clear about the fact that residential aged care was woefully unprepared for the COVID-19 onslaught.