Aged care DAPs, DACs, RADs and Means Tested Fees????
Moving a loved one into residential aged care can be a stressful time for the resident and family members, both emotionally and financially. In addition to trying to find somewhere that everyone (or almost everyone) will be happy with, and getting everyone on board, you also have to address a number of key financial considerations:
- Aged Care facilities available and the differences between them?
- What to do with the family home? For instance, will a ‘protected’ person still be residing in the home?
- How will the ‘Room Accommodation Deposit’ (RAD) be funded? (To give you an idea, these usually start around $350,000)
- How will you manage the ongoing daily costs?
Often the above decisions are made at a stressful time and without a great understanding of how your choices will impact on your long-term cash flow. In the end, you just want to focus on making sure that your loved ones will be happy, not worrying about whether on not you should be paying up front, be assessed as Low means, or having to sell the family home to fund the move.
This is where financial advice is crucial in helping make sense of the various options that will be available, to help improve your Age Pensions entitlements, consider the Centrelink implications, and potentially help reduce ongoing aged care costs.
How we can help you!
As an independent financial planner, we will help you:
- Assist with financial decisions and provide options
- Working out the costs and advice around managing the RAD and how this should be paid
- Considering options available to reduce daily fees
- How to improve your Age Pension entitlements
- Assistance with completion of Centrelink forms
- Establishment of Nominee Arrangement with Centrelink to assist with ongoing correspondence
- Assistance with completion of application forms for residency at Aged Care facilities (if required)
