Senior Australian news and research
The Federal Government’s reforms to make private health insurance simpler and more affordable have delivered an average premium increase of 3.25 per cent from 1 April 2019. The premium change will see a single person pay an average of $59.28 more per year and a family on average will pay $122.20 more per year. The…
The Australian government is to enact legislation to create an Australian Veterans’ Card and an Australian Veterans’ Lapel Pin to permit businesses to offer discounts to veterans. The Government will develop an Australian Veterans’ Covenant in legislation so the nation can recognise the unique nature of military service and support veterans and their families. Like…
The Medicare levy low income thresholds for singles, families, seniors and pensioners has increased so that they will continue to be exempt from the levy. One million people are expected to benefit from lifting the Medicare levy low-income thresholds for the 2017-18 income year. Around 70,000 individuals are estimated to not have to pay the Medicare…
Dramatic policy changes deemed by the Commonwealth Ombudsman to have been ‘poorly communicated’ have left Bupa customers with no choice but to consider their private health insurance options, the Australian Society of Ophthalmologists warned. The warning comes following the release of The Commonwealth Ombudsman’s June 2018 report into Bupa’s planned hospital policy changes, which are…
The Federal Department of Health has worked with the aged care sector to develop the draft Aged Care Quality Standards which have now been released. A single set of quality standards is a key deliverable of the Single Aged Care Quality Framework. The Aged Care Quality Standards will apply to all aged care services and…
The Federal Government is reforming the way it manages Urgent Payments to break the cycle of debt and better support welfare recipients who find themselves under financial stress. Urgent Payments are not additional payments. They bring forward part of a person’s regular welfare payment to meet an urgent expense, leaving less for regular expenses on…
A controversial model of dementia care, developed in the United Kingdom more than 20 years ago, will be piloted in three Australian aged care homes in July 2016. The three pilot homes are Barunga Village located in Port Broughton, South Australia, The Salvation Army Aged Care Plus Centres in Chapel Hill, Queensland, and Narrabundah, ACT….
The ACCC has been alerted to plans by the makers of Panadol Osteo to increase its price by 50 per cent on 1 January 2016. The Federal Minister for Health Sussan Ley said that there are no obvious market changes that justify such a substantial increase. The increase is not justified even taking into consideration…
