Volume 8 Edition 10 Financial Care Services Newsletter

Online at Permalink: https://financialcareservices.com.au/newsletters/vol-8-ed-10/

Financial Care Services, the specialist adviser to seniors in transition to new lifestyles

Volume 8 Edition 10 – 31 October 2018

Remember to vote just once in the Victorian State election

As citizens we have both the privilege and the responsibility to elect our Federal and State governments. Your next opportunity to have your say is in the Victorian State elecction on the last Saturday of November.

Mobile polling places visit retirement lifestyle community villages and aged care facilities to enable frailer seniors to vote without encountering the multitudes on polling day.

Therefore you could check if your family member has already voted before you take her to vote on polling day Saturday 24 November.

Seniors and other who are physically challenged, can vote early at pre-poll centres. The reward for your patience in accompanying a frail person to a pre-poll centre, is that as a carer, you are allowed to vote early too.

But if your friend or family member no longer understands what voting is all about then you could start the process to have a name removed from the electoral roll. You start with the printing the AEC form for removal of a name from the electoral roll. The AEC requires this form to be signed off by a medical practitioner who knows the person. The doctor’s signature is mandated so that you cannot have great aunt Maud removed from the electoral roll to reduce the votes to her favourite political party.

Streamlining the Residential Aged Care entry challenge

Centrelink are responding to the challenges of aged care entrants by streamlining parts of the processing of the Centrelink SA457 form, “Permanent Residential Aged Care Request for a Combined Assets and Income Assessment”. The normal processing time for these is a minimum of ten weeks.

Hence aged care entrants with Low Means can be trapped in interim care whilst waiting the ten weeks for the Supported Resident confirmation. The streamlining system allows you to call the Aged Care team on 1800 227 475 and ask for your Low Means assessment to be expedited. Remember that it may take at least one week for your SA457 form to be entered into the Centrelink Aged Care computer system. But once it is entered you might receive your Supported Resident letter within a month of your telephone call.

At the other end of the wealth system, the new SA457 “Permanent Residential Aged Care Request for a Combined Assets and Income Assessment” has an option to not disclose your assets and income. Yes you fill in the first part of the form SA457 with the aged care entrant’s name and address then tick the box for “No I am not going to disclose my financial situation” and jump across to the sign-off pages. You still need to visit a Centrelink office to ‘prove identity’. but in theory you do not need to explain that you are not going to fill in the form SA457. Beware that you might receive a telephone call from Centrelink asking why you did not send in the pages that you skipped.

Help with the Centrelink form SA457 is available. Christine at Financial Care Services has experience with completing SA457 collating the personal documents for proving identity. Christine has clear neat handwriting for inserting your data into the spaces on the Centrelink forms.

Christine could help you check if your family member would benefit by disclosing her full assets and income on entry to residential aged care.
Call Christine at Financial Care Services on (03) 9808 0338 to arrange an Age Care entry consultation before you commit to an aged care place.

Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety

The terms of reference for the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety have been announced.
Two Commissioners are appointed for the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
The next step is for a support team for the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety to be established in Adelaide.

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety now has its own website. You can read the Terms of Reference to see what the Royal Commission has been asked to look into.

The families of current and former aged care residents are welcome to write a ‘submission’ to the Royal Commissioners telling them about your experiences with residential aged care. Once the support team is ready you will be able to send in your submission via the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety website “Submissions” page.

You can start preparing your submission now. Your submissions could give details of what happened to your family member, when and where it happened and who else was involved. Your story could then be part of the bigger picture of residential aged care that the Royal Commission is going to look at.

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has lots of work to do before it presents its Interim Report at the end of October 2019.
The team will not be able to talk with every family. But someone from the Royal Commission team will read your submission and take note of your points. So please write a submission about your family’s experiences.

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Financial Care Services your independent adviser

Financial Care Services is an independent advisory service specialising in retirees of modest means and aged care entrants. Our core values include working with clients in claiming DVA and Centrelink entitlements.

The team at Financial Care Services are here to answer your Age Pension questions and guide your understanding of aged care costs. Help with Centrelink challenges is available from Financial Care Services, the specialist adviser to seniors in transition to new lifestyles.

To arrange an appointment for further confidential, independent and professional advice about DVA, Centrelink, lifestyle or aged care issues please contact Christine Hopper 03 9808 0338.

Financial Care Services charges fees based on the work involved in advising you about pensions and aged care fee solutions.
To make an appointment for confidential, independent and professional advice about aged care, retirement lifestyle, granny flat or Age Pension issues please contact Christine Hopper or call +61 3 9808 0338.

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Christine Hopper
Financial Care Services Pty Ltd
Independent aged care, strategic lifestyle and Social Security advice for seniors in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Telephone – call +61 3 9808 0338
Email – contact info@financialcareservices.com.au
Address – mail to 172 Warrigal Road, Camberwell Victoria 3124
Website – visit financialcareservices.com.au
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Disclaimer: The information contained in this newsletter is of a general nature only and does not constitute “financial advice”.
All eligibility for Commonwealth benefits will be determined by Centrelink or DVA, based on your personal position as documented and the legislation and Regulations in force at that time.

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