Before you can receive a home care package, you must register with My Aged Care and be assessed by the Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT). ACAT assessments are free and determine your eligibility for a home care package and the level of care required. When you are approved for a home care package, you are placed in the national queue and then contacted when your package becomes available.
When you reach the top of the queue, you will receive a letter from My Aged Care with details of your home care package. You then have 56 days from the date of the letter to take up the home care package and enter into a home care agreement with a provider.
Your package is paid from your home care package budget. This budget is made up of Government subsidies and supplements, and a contribution from you. The provider receives and administers the budget and issues you with monthly statements outlining how the funding has been used and the funds remaining.
The Government subsidies are determined by the level of home care required by you (determined by the ACAT assessment). The higher level of home care required, the higher level the subsidies provided.
How Much Do I Have To Pay?
You may be asked to contribute a basic daily fee and an income tested fee toward your home care package. The basic daily fee applies to all recipients and is determined by the home care package level. The maximum basic daily fee is indexed on the 20 March and 20 September each year in line with the indexation of the Age Pension and is currently as follows:
| Home care package level | Basic daily fee |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | $9.63 |
| Level 2 | $10.19 |
| Level 3 | $10.48 |
| Level 4 | $10.75 |
The income tested fee is determined by your assessable income and is in addition to the basic daily fee (if applicable).
Home care providers can charge package management costs to organise your package and exit amounts if you decide to change providers. Package management costs can reduce the amount of funding available for home care services, so it is worthwhile shopping around to compare the costs between providers.
