The Aged Care Ministerial Advisory Group has released an independent report, A Place to Grow Old: Securing the Future of Aged Care. It recommends major reform to provide a more integrated care system for older New Zealanders and their families. Grey Power speaks out on the proposals.
Grey Power New Zealand has welcomed the aged care report, saying the report provides an important opportunity to build a system to give NZ seniors the care, dignity and security they deserve.
Grey Power president, David Marshall says it correctly recognises New Zealand’s aged-care system needs fundamental reform as the population ages and more people require support to live independently.
“We strongly support this vision of a more integrated system, better support for people to age in place, improved support for carers and a stronger, more sustainable aged-care workforce,” he says.
“Older New Zealanders should be able to access required care without having to navigate a confusing system. ”
Grey Power supports proposals to strengthen home-based care, improve respite and support for family carers, expand rehabilitation services, improve information sharing and strengthen the aged-care workforce.
It also backs establishing an independent Aged Care Pricing Authority to provide greater transparency and help ensure funding decisions better reflect the real cost of providing quality care. Older people must not become the funding solution.
Grey Power is concerned about proposals to significantly increase the financial contribution expected from older people receiving care.
The report proposes lowering the asset threshold for residential care contributions to $100,000 and introducing stepped contributions for people with higher assets. It also proposes greater income-based contributions towards some care costs.
Where a couple with one partner in residential care elects to exclude the family home from asset testing, the report proposes limiting the value of the home that can be excluded, with any value above that threshold included in the asset test.
“Grey Power would not support a cap on home values which then force an older, vulnerable partner, in their mid-80’s or 90’s to go through the stress of selling the family home and downsizing to pay for their ill partner’s residential care,” Mr Marshall says. “Any proposal involving caps on the value of homes must be carefully evaluated to ensure our most vulnerable can live their final years in dignity.
Although Grey Power supports the principle that people should contribute towards genuine personal preferences or additional services, it believes essential health and care services must remain accessible regardless of ability to pay.
“Seniors should not face financial insecurity just because their health and care needs increase with age.”
Sustainable funding essential
Although Grey Power sees some aspects of the report differently, the call for substantial increases in funding for home-based and residential care has its support.
“Quality care cannot be delivered without properly funding providers and the workforce,” Mr Marshall says. “Investment in aged care is an investment in the wellbeing of older New Zealanders, their families and the wider health system.”
He asks if a day in hospital costs the same as a week in a residential care bed or a month of care at home, why wouldn’t reform which allows more people to live at home for longer, be a fiscally logical solution to the aged care crisis in NZ?
To navigate solutions, Grey Power supports investigating a future social insurance scheme to help fund aged care for future generations. The model should be carefully designed and subject to broad public consultation.
Older people must have a voice
Seniors must have a meaningful role in implementing the reforms, asserts Grey Power.
“The report proposes major transformation of aged care over the next decade. Seniors cannot simply be consulted after important decisions are made,” Mr Marshall says.
“The test of this reform is simple: will older people, who need care, be able to get it without facing financial ruin? That is the standard Grey Power will use to judge the Government’s response.”
Grey Power calls on all parties to publicly commit to applying specific steps of the reform in their first three years in government. Some 94% of those over 65, vote and there are over 950,000 wanting to know each party’s stand on this key issue!