Steps to claim

You can claim if all of the following apply:

• you have calculated your cost of care
• you have assets valued less than the current threshold
• you haven’t made gifts over the limits.

If you get a Home Care Package, your care must have started on or after 1 July 2014.

You or your partner’s personal or financial details may have changed since you got your fee advice letter. If your details have changed and you haven’t updated them, the outcome of your financial hardship claim won’t be correct.

Before you claim, you should update your financial details as well as your partner’s, if you have one.

Steps to claim aged care financial hardship assistance

1. Calculate your cost of care

We usually work out how much you need to pay when you start getting aged care services. We call this an aged care calculation of your cost of care.

We may have already completed an aged care calculation of your cost of care if you’re currently either:

• getting a home care package
• in an aged care home.

If we couldn’t do this when you started getting care, we need to do it before you can claim financial hardship. To work this out, we need to know your financial details. You don’t have to give us your financial details, but if you don’t we can’t work out how much you should be paying. This means we cannot assess your claim for financial hardship assistance.

If we haven’t worked out how much you need to pay, you’ll need to apply for an aged care calculation of your cost of care.

To check if we’ve already worked this out, call us on the Aged Care line.

2. Check your assets meet the requirements

The value of your assets must be less than the current threshold. You can find out what the threshold is for financial hardship assistance on the myagedcare website. This excludes any assets you can’t sell or borrow against.

If you’ve paid a lump sum accommodation payment to a residential aged care home, this is an asset.

3. Check your gifts meet the requirements

You can’t have made gifts of more than either:

• $10,000 in the previous 12 months
• $30,000 in the previous 5 years.

Gifts include transferring ownership of an asset for less than its market value. If you’ve done this, the difference between the market value and what you got for it is assessed as the gift.

Don’t include the value of assets given away at a time you were incapacitated. For information on misappropriation, see assets you can’t sell or borrow against in the claim form.

4. Get your documents ready

With your form you need to send documents that prove all of the following:

• some of your aged care costs
• your other essential expenses
• any assets you can’t sell or borrow against.

If you don’t send the documents when you claim, we’ll ask you for more details. If you don’t send them within 28 days we’ll reject your claim.

You can find information about essential expenses and assets you can’t sell or borrow against in the claim form.

5. Claim

Complete the Aged Care claim for financial hardship assistance form.

It asks for details of your assets and expenses. Send the form and your documents to us. The address is on the form.

You can claim as soon as you’re having trouble paying your costs.

If you don’t agree with our decision you can call us on the Aged Care line.