The federal government did take a small step for elderly people in care by agreeing to fund significant wage increases and better conditions for aged care workers. Aged care workers and their Unions had been campaigning for years for respect and recognition for aged care workers whether it be home care or residential care.

 

After scathing findings by the Royal Commission a few years ago, the Labor Government had to do something. However, the funding of better wages of care workers was only one aspect of the problem.

 

The Age newspaper reported last week that "aged care has become a masterclass in overpromising and under delivering - while quietly saving the federal budget billions of dollars"

 

For an elderly person to actually receive appropriate care, there are several hoops they have to step through.

 

1. Answer a series of questions in an interview over the phone to an over-worked government worker. If the elderly person or their family member making the call on their behalf misunderstands a question or gives a wrong answer by mistake, they may find themselves ineligible to advance to the next step towards arranging appropriate care

 

2. If a person gets through the phone interview, they then have to wait for an assessment which The Report On Government Services found took 27 days for 50% of applicants and for 10% of applicants, they had to wait up to 172 days

 

3. Then the third stage is the assessment or sometimes reassessment. The assessments are now "guided" by algorithms with care needs systematically understated. This results in cost savings for the government and in some cases a finding that a person is no longer to receive any more funding.

 

4. If a person is approved for a home care package or residential care, the Age reported that "half of all seniors waited up to 204 days after approval to be assigned a home care package, with10% waiting up to 326 days"

 

5. The Age further reported that up to 60% of home care packages provided less assistance than was promised.

 

More than 200,000 people are waiting for aged care assistance in one form or another. Delays in approval of aged care packages and delays in providing care after approvals are determined are saving the federal government more than $5 billion a year. The Age says "put another way, every day of delay saves around $13.3 million".

 

 

Australia has an ageing population and an increasing population as well.

 

The federal government prefers to serve its imperialist masters by pouring money into AUKUS to the tune of $380 billion dollars, while state governments pour money into supporting big business such as racing car events and the like or more roads to service the needs of large corporations who want their goods and services moved quicker to realize profits from the surplus value created by workers overseas in some cases and interstate in other cases.

 

The system of capitalism compels governments to show that they prioritize the needs of big business rather than the needs of the people, including the elderly.

To make matters worse for the elderly many of them in need of aged care will be resided in an aged care facility owned by a private-for-profit provider such as BUPA. So, the profit motive impacts negatively on the elderly in the last stage of their lives, despite them paying taxes all their working life!

 

The only solution to a decent life for the elderly is to bring the system of capitalism to an end and build a society based on the needs of the people, not the profit goals of capitalism.