Residential Aged Care Fees

Residents entering aged care (permanent resident) will have the same options to pay for their accommodation, regardless of the level of care required.

Standard Resident Contribution - Care Payments

The basic daily care fee is set at 85% of the Age Pension – currently $75.40. Due to Alpine Health being a "Multi-Purpose Service" (a flexible care service), the fee structure is different from other care services.

Permanent Residents in Alpine Health’s facilities receive Rent Assistance from Services Australia (Centrelink) or Veterans’ Affairs (if receiving a pension from one of these Departments). The resident receives this allowance with their pension payments and this helps to cover the cost of the daily fee. ($188.20 per fortnight, current 20/03/2024.)

Respite

The Respite care fee is $61.96 per day.

Paying for your accommodation

Residents will also have complete discretion in how they pay for their accommodation. Residents can choose between a Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD) which is a refundable lump-sum payment, an equivalent Daily Accommodation Payment (DAP) being a periodic rental style payment, or a combination of both. In addition, residents will have up to 28 days from entering care to choose whether to pay the agreed accommodation price by a refundable deposit or daily payment or some combination of both. The daily payment is paid unless and until a refundable deposit is paid.

A resident entering care will undergo Centrelink means-testing in order to ascertain the amount per day that is available to pay for residential aged care in addition to the Standard Resident Contribution mentioned above. Means testing will combine asset testing and income testing.

If a person’s assets are below $59,500 and receive a full pension, their daily care fee is $75.40 (as at 20/03/24).

Residents will be assessed based on their assets and their income to determine their capacity to pay beyond the basic daily fee above. Income is assessed under the same rules that Centrelink applies for pension entitlement. Assets, both within Australia and overseas, are assessed at market value. Your former home will be assessed unless a protected person is living there, in which case it is exempt from the assessment.

Alpine Health’s maximum Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD) is $450,000.

The maximum Daily Accommodation Payment (DAP) equivalent is $102.82

An example of combination payment of 50% refundable deposit (RAD) and 50% daily payment (DAP) = RAD OF $225,000 and DAP of $51.41 or any other % combination of a RAD and DAP. (For all new residents from 01/04/2024 – 30/06/2024.)