Costs (1 July 2014 Onwards)

• An accommodation fee. This is another fee that helps to take care of the costs associated with having you stay within a residential aged care facility. Again, the amount you can be asked to pay will be dependent upon an assessment of your income and assets*. The aged care home must publish their maximum accommodation prices. You can choose to pay your accommodation price/fee by one of the following three options: lump-sum style ‘refundable accommodation deposit’ (RAD); rental-type payments called a ‘daily accommodation payment’ (DAP); or, a combination of both.

• Fees for extra or other additional care and services may apply if you choose a higher standard of accommodation or additional services. 

*As stated above, the amount required to be paid for accommodation is based on an assessment of your income and assets. Depending on your personal circumstances, this can result in one of the following:

• No accommodation costs, if your income and assets are below a certain amount. In this case, the Government will pay your accommodation costs.
• An accommodation contribution, if you need to partially pay for your accommodation costs. The Government will pay the remainder.
• An accommodation payment, if you need to fully pay for your accommodation costs.

The Department of Human Services (now named Services Australia) will inform you of your maximum basic daily fee, as well as your means-tested care fee and accommodation fee.