Self-funded retirees residential aged care with ‘means not disclosed’.
Accepting that a loved one needs residential aged care is difficult for most families. Yet in their grief, families are confronted with official paperwork.
Aged care facilities want the big Centrelink Assets and Income form, “Permanent Residential Aged Care Request for a Combined Assets and Income Assessment”, submitted promptly.
The facility managers have two major concerns. For the less well-off entrants, the facility wants to admit Supported Residents to fill relevant vacancies but not to allow a Supported place to be occupied by an ineligible senior. For the well-endowed entrants, the facility manager wants to have the correct aged care subsidy rate determined and payable fast.
Aged care entrants at both ends of the wealth spectrum pose special challenges with the Assets and Income forms.
Self-funded retirees entering residential aged care with ‘means not disclosed’.
Self-funded retirees are a group of aged care entrants for whom that facility managers want prompt Centrelink responses. But Self-funded retirees are not always thrilled at the opportunity to disclose all of their assets and income information to Centrelink.
A really wealthy aged care resident will pay all of her hoteling living and care costs. The Commonwealth will only contribute to the cost of personal support and nursing care for a really wealthy resident after she has paid care fees equivalent to the Annual Cap and/or Lifetime Cap.
Thus submitting an Assets and Income form to Centrelink seems pointless when you are going to pay the full costs. Therefore completing the Assets and Income form takes a low priority on entering residential aged care.
But the aged care manager does not know the extent of your financial resources. Consequently, the aged care facility is waiting for Centrelink to advise your Means Tested Care Fee but you have not told Centrelink that you are not going to submit an Assets and Income form. The months can pass before Centrelink determine not to pay any aged care subsidy.
In the meantime, the aged care facility could have billed you for the maximum aged care fees that could possibly apply to any resident. The alternative would be for only a modest, possibly nil, aged care fees to be billed initially. These approaches generate huge over-payments or under-payments but not a good balance.
The financial risk occurs when the aged care facility accounts office assumes that the Commonwealth will be paying some Care fee subsidy for this aged care entrant and charges only a nominal Means Tested Care fee initially. Later when no subsidy is forthcoming from the Commonwealth, the aged care facility will need to retrospectively collect the care costs from the resident. But what if she has moved on from that aged care facility.
The Commonwealth bureaucracy is refining its procedures to try to resolve this challenge.
Self-funded retirees steps for paying the correct amount of Care Fees
The first step is to discover if your family member would attract a Commonwealth subsidy of her aged care costs. You need to compare the Commonwealth’s scheduled cost of her personal support and nursing care with her Means Tested Care Fee Amount.
Christine at Financial Care Services can assist you with estimating the Means Tested Care Fee Amount. Remember that using some financial resources to pay a RAD will change your Means Tested Amount. Ask Christine to Illustrate the Means Tested Care Fee for the different RAD amounts that you might be considering. Your Illustrations can be based on a good estimate of your assets and income; you do not need to document every shareholding and investment property to Financial Care Services.
If your estimated Means Tested Care Fee Amount clearly exceeds your care costs then you will be paying the full daily care cost until you reach the Annual and/or Lifetime Caps on care fees. Therefore you do not need to disclose your wealth to Centrelink. You could just inform the aged care facility accounts office that you will be paying the full care cost. The correct care fee could then be billed to you from the date you became a permanent resident.
However you will need to visit Centrelink to ‘prove identity’ before any Commonwealth subsidy could be paid after you reached the Annual Cap or Lifetime Cap on care fees. In proving your identity, you are also demonstrating that you are an Australian citizen or a Permanent Resident of Australia. Once you have proved your identity then the Commonwealth could subsidise your residential aged care.
Centrelink are here to help Self-funded retirees entering permanent residential aged care
Centrelink are here to help self-funded retirees entering permanent residential aged care advise that they will not disclose their assets.
We now have a process for entering the aged care Means Testing system without disclosing any financial information.
Once the Commonwealth’s aged care section registers that the new aged care entrant has not submitted the Assets and Income form a letter will be sent to the aged care resident. If the resident has no current relationship with Centrelink their letter should arrive at the aged care facility for the attention of the resident. This letter includes a CRN for the resident, that is, a Customer Reference Number for Centrelink.
The latest version of the Assets and Income form SA457-1711 includes the wonderful Question 10 “Do you wish to provide your asset and income details to receive an aged care combined asset and income assessment?” By answering “No” you can go straight to the sign-off page.
However you still need to go to Centrelink to ‘prove identity’ corresponding to your CRN.
You will need to take the Aged Care letter showing your CRN to justify your request to ‘prove identity’.
But if you do not have a CRN and no letter has appeared for you at the aged care facility, then you just take your completed SA457-1711 together with your identity documents to a Centrelink office. A CRN will be issued to you at Centrelink once you can show that you need it.
Christine at Financial Care Services can help you with this Centrelink challenge.
Christine could complete your Centrelink form SA457 for you to sign. She has neat handwriting just right for inserting your data into small printed spaces. Christine could help you with collating your identity documents and then go with you to Centrelink.
Financial Care Services your independent advisor
Help is available. Christine at Financial Care Services understands the DVA Pensions and Centrelink assessment of the means tested amount for residential aged care.
A consultation with Financial Care Services helps you understand your potential aged care costs together with the DVA and Centrelink implications of rearranging your assets, leasing or selling the former home.
Financial Care Services welcomes clients from Melbourne and beyond.
Call Christine on 03 9808 0338 to make an appointment for a consultation.
Assistance with completing the Commonwealth aged care means testing forms is available to clients of Financial Care Services.
Christine can accompany you to Centrelink for you to “prove identity” and obtain a CRN as a new Centrelink customer.
Normal hourly rate fees apply for help with Centrelink matters.
Financial Care Services does not base fees on the value of your assets nor do we accept any commissions or payments from other service providers.
Arrange an appointment for further confidential, independent and professional advice about aged care, assisted living, DVA, Centrelink, lifestyle or granny flat issues please contact Christine Hopper 03 9808 0338.
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this website is of a general nature only and does not constitute “financial advice”. You should obtain your own personal financial advice before investing any money or moving in to any retirement village, lifestyle community or aged care facility.
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