Volume 9 Edition 10 Financial Care Services Newsletter

Online at Permalink: https://financialcareservices.com.au/newsletters/vol-9-ed-10/

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

Volume 9 Edition 10 – 31 October 2019

Commonwealth funded help for seniors

Retirees continue to incur living costs long after ceasing paid work. Some costs seem to increase faster once we are retired. Being at home more means needing to heat and cool the home more hours than if you were out at work most of the day. Also our mature age bodies seem to need more medications and repairs just to maintain reasonable health.

Concessions to help DVA and Centrelink Pensioners with basic living costs

All Centrelink Disability Support Pension, “DSP”, Age and Carer Pensioners are eligible for the Pensioner Concession Card. DVA Service Pensioners and some recipients of DVA Compensation Benefits are eligible for the Pensioner Concession Card.

The Pensioner Concession Card entitles Pensioners to concessional prices for prescribed medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme.

The Pensioner Concession Card also allows Pensioners to claim discounts on utility bills, motor registration and Council rates.

You must ask your electricity and gas retailers to give you the Pensioner Concessions on your current contract.
If you change your energy retailer or move home then you must contact your new provider to claim the Pensioner Concessions on your new contract.
Yes, you can have the Pensioner Concessions credited for the twelve months before you got around to claiming for your latest energy contract.

Consider Pam who moved into a smaller home last summer. Centrelink demanded to know all about the sale of Pam’s former home and her ‘purchase’ of a retirement lifestyle living apartment. Pam set up her new electricity account and changed her registered address with Medicare and Vic Roads and the car insurer and lots of other service providers.

Come October Pam thinks that her electricity bill is high, maybe she is using more power over winter than she anticipated. Then Pam realises that she was not being allowed the Pensioner Concession on her electricity charges.

With her Pensioner Concession Card in her hand, Pam calls accounts team at her electricity retailer. Pam’s CRN is now recorded against her current electricity account allowing for the Pensioner Concession discount for future bills. Plus the Pensioner Concession will be backdated to the date last summer that Pam started this account.

Am I eligible for a Pensioner Concession Card?

You could use the Centrelink website to find out if you are eligible for at least one dollar per fortnight of DSP, Carer or Age Pension. You will have a Pensioner Concession Card as long as you qualify for at least one dollar of Pension this fortnight.

The less stressful option is to arrange a ‘personal financial factual information’ Consultation with Christine at Financial Care Services. Christine is experienced with Centrelink Pension Applications and the many Centrelink financial means tests.

Christine at Financial Care Services offers Short Consultations for ‘personal financial factual information’ to help you check your financial position against the means tests for a Centrelink Pension and look together at the residency requirements for a Pension.

You can start the by emailing Christine for her Client Services Guide and the Financial Care Services Age Pension Data form.
The fee for a Short Consultation 45 minutes in person or by telephone and/or email for ‘personal financial factual information’ is $99.

Christine could also assist you with collating your personal data, estimating how much Pension or Carer Payment you could expect to receive and completing the Centrelink forms for you to sign. Normal hourly rate consultation fees apply for assistance with personal data collation, completing Centrelink forms and attendance at a Centrelink office with you.

Commonwealth Seniors Health Card for seniors excluded from the Age Pension

The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card is for seniors who are not wealthy but excluded from the Age Pension by the Asset and/or Income Test.

Seniors who have non-income producing assets can find themselves with only a modest income but no Pensioner Concession Card.

The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card was introduced so that these retirees would not waste their accumulated assets and/or stop working totally, just to qualify for a tiny Age Pension and the Pensioner Concession Card.

Benefits for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders

The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card provides for medicines prescribed under the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme to be charged at the Pensioner Concessional prices.
Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders might also be ‘bulk billed’ for medical services that usually require a co-contribution.

Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders receive a small payment each quarter as ‘compensation for Clean Energy’ costs.
But the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card will not allow you any Pensioner discounts on utility bills, motor registration or Council rates.

Qualifications for holding a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card

Australian resident seniors with moderate amounts of ‘adjusted taxable income’ can apply for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.

To qualify for a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card you must be a permanent resident of Australia and have attained your Age Pension Age.
Finally you must have an ‘adjusted taxable income’ below the current cut-off level.
There is no Asset Test for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.

Income Test for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card

The cut-off levels of ‘adjusted taxable income’ for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card were increased effective 20 September 2019.

As from 20 September 2019, a single senior must have an ‘adjusted taxable income’ of not more than $55,808 for the year to retain her Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.

A member of a ‘couple at Centrelink, is not permitted to hold a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card if the ‘adjusted taxable income’ of the couple exceeds $89,290 for the year.
Remember at Centrelink a ‘couple’ is any two adults who share domestic arrangements and present socially as a couple.
You cannot be treated as a ‘single’ person at Centrelink just because you and your domestic partner choose to keep your finances separate.

A higher cut-off level of $111,616 applies to couples who are separated by illness. Once one member of a couple enters residential aged care, or prison, then they become a ‘couple separated by illness’ for Centrelink.

Adjusted taxable income for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card income test

For the purposes of the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, Centrelink use ‘adjusted taxable income’ which is defined differently from ‘assessable income’ for the Age Pension.
For Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, the ‘adjusted taxable income’ includes your income as shown on your latest income tax return, or an estimate for your current year, with some significant adjustments.

The two adjustments most frequently seen at Financial Care Services, relate to superannuation and negatively geared investments. Our retiree clients are generally less impacted by the many other potential adjustments in the Centrelink rules for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.

Firstly any losses from investments are excluded from your ‘adjusted taxable income’ for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card. Thus the net income from your negatively geared property will be treated differently for your Commonwealth Seniors Health Card application than in your Income Tax Assessment.

Secondly, your allocated pension accounts and any similar superannuation income streams, will be deemed to be earning income that is included in your ‘adjusted taxable income’ for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card income test.

Am I eligible for a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card?

You could use the Centrelink website to check your eligibility for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card

The less stressful option is to arrange a ‘personal financial factual information’ Consultation with Christine at Financial Care Services. Christine is experienced with Centrelink Applications and the many Centrelink financial means tests.

Christine at Financial Care Services offers Short Consultations for ‘personal financial factual information’ to help you check your financial position against the income test for a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.

Christine could also assist you with collating your personal data and completing the Centrelink forms for you to sign. Normal hourly rate consultation fees apply for assistance with personal data collation, completing Centrelink forms and attendance at a Centrelink office with you.

Christine at 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 Christine Hopper at Financial Care Services, the specialist adviser to seniors in transition to new lifestyles.

Christine 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 costs, 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.