Volume 9 Edition 4 Financial Care Services Newsletter

Online at Permalink: https://financialcareservices.com.au/newsletters/vol-9-ed-4/

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

Volume 9 Edition 4 – 30 April 2019

Before you take a senior to the voting booth on Election Day

Early pre-poll voting for the physically challenged and their carers

Voting at Federal and State elections is both a privilege and a responsibility of every Australian citizen.

Every enrolled elector is expected to vote once at the Federal election. The main polling day is Saturday 18 May. But to save the ambulance crew from rescuing frail seniors from the voting queue, early voting is available to the physically challenged electors. Early pre-poll voting starts on Monday 29 April.

Early voting can come to you at a Temporary Mobile Polling Place in your aged care facility or retirement lifestyle community village. Your Temporary Mobile Polling Place might only be open once for thirty minutes in the ‘community centre’.

Therefore you could check if your senior family member has already voted at a Temporary Mobile Polling Place before you arrange to take her with you on Election Day. Ask the reception office staff at your aged care facility if your senior had voted at the Temporary Mobile Polling Place.

The physically slowing and those with low vision can take many minutes to mark their ballot papers. These electors are welcome at their local pre-poll voting centre. They might be able to sit at a table and be assisted by an AEC staffer as they slowly navigate their ballot papers.

As a carer, you are allowed to vote early while you are attending the early voting polling place as a reward for your patience in taking a frail or low vision voter.

When someone no longer understands what voting is about

Sadly many seniors are experiencing a loss of cognitive function so that they can no longer understand the how and why of voting in an election. As a family member, you might be able to see what is happening but what do you do about grandpa’s vote?

The Electoral Rolls have closed for the May 2019 Federal Election. So if grandpa’s name has not been removed from the electoral roll the Australian Electoral Commission, “AEC”, might later send a letter asking why he did not vote. Thus your next step could be to have an AEC Objection form completed and signed by grandpa’s local doctor. You could then send the signed Objection form to the AEC together with any letter that came from AEC addressed to grandpa.

In between elections you could inform the AEC that a family member has become unable to understand about elections. You need to print off 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 grandpa removed from the electoral roll and thereby reduce the votes to his favourite political party.

Blind Pension for adults with very low vision or no vision

Australian seniors who are ‘legally blind’ can be paid full rate Age Pension without any means testing.

The only difference between the ‘Age Pension – Blind’ and the ordinary Age Pension is the exemption from providing asset and income details to Centrelink. Applicants for the ‘Age Pension – Blind’ must be Australian citizens or ‘permanent residents’ who satisfy the age and residency requirements for the Age Pension.

The ‘Age Pension – Blind’ is for seniors who are ‘legally blind’. The definition of ‘legally blind’ is included in the Social Security Regulations. Only a medical specialist ophthalmologist may sign the Centrelink Report SA013 to certify that an adult is ‘legally blind’.

In practical terms, to be ‘legally blind’ you must have very low vision or no functioning eyes.

The ‘legally blind’ definition requires that if you have some vision then you fail to be able to see in at least one of four ways.

For example, your vision could be so blurred that standing six metres away you cannot read a road sign designed to be read at sixty metres by someone with ‘normal’ vision.

The other tests for being ‘legally blind’ relate to your vision field.
Some ‘legally blind’ people can see only straight ahead; each eye sees its own tiny field.
Other ‘legally blind’ people need to look sideways to see an object; their central vision field is very blurred.
Finally some seniors have bits missing from their vision field; they might have lost the left half of their vision field or their vision field might be like looking through glasses that have big black spots randomly stuck on their lenses.

Being ‘legally blind’ means having no vision or very low vision. Many seniors find that their eye sight has deteriorated to the extent that they cannot safely drive a car anymore but they still have vision that is substantially better than ‘legally blind’.

Guide Dogs and white canes are used by people with low or no vision to help them get around independently. But not every ‘legally blind’ person has the privilege of being assisted by a Guide Dog.
Many ‘legally blind’ people who have some peripheral vision can move around carefully without needing to tap the ground ahead.

If your Pensioner Concession Card shows ‘Age Pension – Blind’ then you could apply for a free Travel Pass. Blind Pensioners are entitled to travel free on suburban public transport.
The Victorian Blind Travel Pass is like a MYKI card to open the ticket barriers but station staff are usually ready to open the gates for low vision travellers.

The Disability Support Pension – Blind is available to adults who are ‘legally blind’ but have not attained their Age Pension Age. Applicants for the ‘Disability Support Pension – Blind’ must be adult Australian citizens or ‘permanent residents’ who satisfy the residency requirements for a Social Security Pension.

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.

______________________________

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
LinkedIn – connect https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinehopper1
LinkedIn Company – follow https://www.linkedin.com/company/financial-care-services/
Facebook Page – like https://www.facebook.com/fincareservice
Twitter Feed – follow https://twitter.com/fincareservice
Past newsletters – see http://financialcareservices.com.au/newsletters/
Newsletter – subscribe http://eepurl.com/js41T

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.