Wasting hours getting to the bottom of aged care costs?
The likelihood of needing to sort out a move to full time residential aged care for a parent is most likely to impact someone at a stage in their working career.
Any help to alleviate the complexity of the process is going to save time and reduce some of the stress of an already emotional and difficult situation.
There are ways an employer can help, and employers of choice should be bolstering their resources to do so.
The time saved benefits both employers and their staff.
We hear the same story, again and again.
Jane’s mum went from independence to being in need of full time residential aged care in just one week. It’s a familiar story - a fall, a stay in hospital, and advice that mum needs to move to full time residential aged care.
Jane is a senior associate at a city law firm. Her time is valuable - both to her company, and to her mother.
Calling Human Resources
After looking at residential aged care options proposed by friends, medical professionals and some internet searches, Jane has an idea of the right place for her mother.
Meanwhile she doesn’t know where to start with the financial side of the story. She had begun looking for aged care financial advisors, downloading guides, trying to learn the rules, and was becoming more and more confused.
Concerned about the agendas and experience of people she was finding on the internet, and unable to get help from her accountant, she was spending a lot of time searching and coming up with few constructive answers.
Upon calling her HR department and requesting leave to attend to her mother, her HR department offered a consult with Later Life Advice.
Having worked previously with other employees needing help, her company HR was confident the service provided would be efficient, save Jane’s time and allow Jane to focus on her mum without the financial confusion.
Importantly, Jane’s company has been focussed on improving their support for carers, and supporting employees when called to care for their parents is one such situation.
How can we help you?
Every story is slightly different - however the larger amount of situations can lead to quite straight forward advice, with simple justification. Getting that point can be confusing with the information available - whether it be a government website, a news article or friends and family trying to be helpful (potentially with out of date information).
It can often take a lot of research to get the the point of justifying a pretty straight forward course of action.
However, even a straight forward course of action needs clear justification when other people’s money is at stake, and family members seek to act in logical unison.
Decision making well supported by publicly available information ensures family harmony in the decision making process - further reducing stress.
Importantly, time can be saved, and companies can demonstrate their capabilities in supporting carers amongst their staff.
The situation
Jane’s mother is 90, she owns her apartment (worth about $750k) and has about $25k in savings. She is on the full age pension.
Jane had found a bed that she thought was suitable in a nearby aged care facility with a Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD) of $670k.
Jane had taken the lead amongst her siblings in working out the most suitable approach, and need a well reasoned approach to support decisions.
The help
The best way to support people in these situations is to start from a position of detailed knowledge, and bring to the situation the relevant information.
In the case of aged care, there are pages and pages of information available from government agencies that are bewildering in volume, and in many cases, quite unhelpful.
This is what we outlined to Jane:
We showed her how to find clear pricing, quality and compliance information specific to the aged care facility she had suggested. This is public information available via a government website.
We outlined her choices in paying the Refundable Accommodation Payment via the MyAged Care website, and highlighted that payment of the RAD was favourable to retaining the full age pension.
We clarified her mother’s age pension outcome when moving into aged care via Services Australia information, showing the new asset test limits for someone who has sold their home to move into care.
We stepped out the use of the MyAged Care Fee estimator, eliminating confusion of what information to put where, and including the result in the emailed information.
We made an estimate of the annual cashflows, including the Basic Daily Fee, and the Means Tested Care Fee, noting that the cashflow shortfall, when taking into account her mothers eligibility for the age pension, would be easily supported by savings left over once the Refundable Accommodation Deposit had been paid.
By organising the publicly available information into a concise format, and taking focus away from information not relevant to her mother’s situation, we saved many hours of internet searching and discovery.
We were also available to clarify the impact of various scenarios proposed by the family members. Simply put, a “price” can be put on the various pathways available, and these can inform decision making.
Why a service recommended by your employer makes sense
By offering a service via Jane’s employer, we come as a trusted service. To maintain this trust, we need favourable feedback from Jane to her employer that the service was useful and that it saved time.
With an ongoing commitment to measure outcomes and satisfaction, Jane’s company can be confident they are providing a trusted and effective resource when required.
This is of huge benefit to Jane as she saves time and solves financial complexity, and it is a benefit for Janes employer as demonstrates their support of carers in the organisation, and ensures time efficiency.