00:01So home care packages were reformed last year and as part of the changes the government
00:06said it intended to put price caps in place from July this year. Why? The reason is to
00:13ensure that older Australians weren't being ripped off when paying for services. So when
00:17we're talking about home care, it's allowing older Australians to stay at home instead
00:22of going to an aged care centre and they can get support, everything from nursing to personal
00:29support around showering or just general duties that need to be done to keep the house running
00:34smoothly. So the price cap, the intention is that providers could only charge a maximum
00:40and couldn't go over that because at the moment they can essentially charge whatever they like.
00:45The government today announcing they've delayed the introduction of those price caps due in July,
00:51the new date. Well, the government isn't putting a date or a timeline on it at the moment. Health
00:57Minister Mark Butler speaking earlier today outlined some of the reasons for this delay.
01:03It's important we get the price caps right. We've seen in some other programs, the NDIS
01:07is one example, that if you set the price cap a little bit too high, everyone moves up to
01:11the price cap and that is not just bad for budget, more importantly that's bad for recipients of
01:17care as well. So at a time of a lot of price volatility in the economy, particularly connected
01:23to the war in Iran, we don't think now is the right time. Get it right. Get it right. We're
01:29happy to
01:29work with the government and stakeholders to get this right, but at the moment it is a complete
01:34and utter mess. Aged care services have got to be affordable for Australians. I would have thought
01:39that's pretty obvious and this is incredibly important. And what's the response been from
01:47older Australians, Steffi? Well, Council of the Ageing, which does represent older Australians,
01:52is very supportive of a price cap and it says it would like to see it in place sooner than
01:57later,
01:58but does understand some of the concerns around price caps, specifically with what we've seen
02:03through the NDIS, where providers are then always charging the maximum limit. Before today's announcement,
02:09COTA has also been raising concerns about the fact that prices for at-home services have risen since
02:17the reform to the program occurred last year. So there is definitely a need, COTA believes,
02:23for checks and balances to be in place to ensure that older Australians are paying a fair price.
02:29Ideally, we would be moving on price caps, but I think what's important about the announcement
02:34that's been made is a series of stronger consumer protections are being introduced while we look at
02:41what the price cap should look like and how we make sure that there is affordability and strong
02:46price caps going forward. One of the issues that we do know exists around price caps and if they
02:51were introduced now that we're willing to work with government on is the fact that if we put price
02:58caps in now, we would sort of be baking in some transition costs, potentially baking in higher fuel
03:03costs, which would mean that the price of services would be higher ongoing. We also know that the
03:08experience of the NDIS has been that price caps actually drove costs up. So in the meantime, then,
03:16Steph, how is the government saying it will address these pricing concerns? A lot of it is around just
03:22making more information public, Ros. So for example, across the year, every quarter, in fact,
03:28details will be released about how much providers are charging for certain services. So that means
03:33older Australians can take a look at that and see whether what they're being charged is similar
03:37to what other older Australians are being charged. The aged care commissioner will also have the
03:42powers to require a provider to offer a refund if it's found that they have been asking for too much
03:50money. And providers are also being asked to only raise the cost of services at a maximum of two times
03:57every year.
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