On Monday 8 August the Gillard Government will release the Productivity Commission’s final report on aged care funding, which is likely to feature funding recommendations that would force people to sell or mortgage the family home when they need aged care.

Essentially, the Productivity Commission recommendations represent a re-run of attempts by the Howard Government to introduce compulsory nursing home bonds. Those attempts were defeated, as will the Productivity Commission’s recommendations.

Unlike seniors organisations which support the Productivity Commission or sit on the fence, CPSA is adamant that forcing people to sell, or borrow against, the home they have slaved to pay off over a lifetime destroys their control over their lives and simply does not go together with the provision of quality care.

The Productivity Commission has failed to appreciate that, as people age, control over their lives is to a large extent defined by their accommodation and the emotional security and privacy it provides. Making people sell or mortgage their house is basically telling them: you are on the way out anyway, so hand it all over.

The Productivity Commission has sought to entrench the institutionalisation of older people needing care and has failed to recognise that properly home-based care schemes have the potential to keep 95 per cent of people who need care out of nursing homes, allowing people’s home equity to remain in their homes.

CPSA represents pensioners of all ages, superannuants and low-income retirees. CPSA has 137 Branches and Affiliated Organisations, with a combined membership of 31,000 people.

Media Contact: Paul Versteege, Policy Coordinator

Mobile: 0410 612 182