For more than two decades, aged care has been the elephant in the room.
Politicians of every persuasion in multiple governments are well aware that the population is ageing, and that increasing life expectancies are putting pressure on residential aged-care resources.
Royal commissioners Tony Pagone and Lynelle Briggs.
However, any real solutions to the problem have always ended up in the “too-hard” basket.
Suddenly, the elephant is trumpeting loudly again and it can no longer be ignored – the Royal Commission into Aged Care has released its final report, almost three years in the making.
The report provides a clear message that without a major overhaul of the aged-care system – at least to the tune of $10 billion a year in federal government funding – our senior citizens woud continue to receive sub-standard care.
The big question is, where will all this money come from?
Commissioner Lynelle Briggs proposes that everybody should pay an extra 1 per cent of their income as an Aged Care Improvement Levy, similar to the Medicare Levy.
Commissioner Tony Pagone QC has a much more radical plan: his proposed Aged Care Levy is proportional. It would hit all but the lowest-paid workers and increases dramatically as taxpayers move to higher tax brackets.
And there’s more: he also proposes that people should be taxed differently according to their age, with taxpayers over 40 paying a higher rate of tax.
