Approved for Support at Home, and still waiting

1. We check. Whether you are eligible, and what the care will cost each week.
2. Care starts, within ten days if we can.
3. You sort out the money, from a lender or from your own funds. If you are waiting on money to arrive, your first bill is held for up to eight weeks.
4. The money comes through and pays for the care already delivered.
5. The government funding is released and takes over. Once it is fully released, you pay only your co-contribution.

Before step 2 you will know what the care costs, what it buys in a week, what you will pay, and what happens if something changes. Vera will be alongside you, every step of the way.

No. Nobody can do that, and anyone who says they can is wrong. Your place in the national queue does not move.

What changes is that the care is happening while you wait for it.

You need two things.

• A Notice of Decision for Support at Home from My Aged Care, at level 5, 6, 7 or 8.
• A workable way to pay. For most families that means equity in a home they own outright, or with less than 10 per cent of its value still owing. You do not have to borrow, though. You can pay from savings or superannuation instead, and we will still support you and introduce you to the care provider. Arranging that money would be yours to do.

Decisions about the money have to be made by the person who needs the care. If they cannot make them, someone must hold an enduring power of attorney covering financial matters. See question 6.

Our check tells you whether this is a fit. It is not a loan application and it is not an approval. The lender decides for itself, and so does the care provider. Either can say no.

Your Notice of Decision puts you on a level from 1 to 8. This program is open at levels 5 to 8.

About 10 per cent of the yearly amount pays the provider to manage the package, so the weekly figure is what is left for care itself.

This comes up in many conversations we have with families.

Starting now is how someone stays as well and as strong as they are today, in their own home, for as long as possible. A rail in the shower and a light over the back step, so a fall never happens. A physio, so their legs stay strong. Help with the shopping and meals, so they keep eating properly. Care that arrives early is prevention. Care that arrives after a fall is repair.

An approval at level 5 or above means the assessor found significant need. At those levels people usually need help with personal care, and often nursing as well. That is what keeps someone safe at home.

A first visit about the house is easier to accept than a first visit about their body. Once they have met the same carer a few times, the harder help gets easier. Ask the provider to plan it that way.

And once the government funding starts, nursing is paid for in full, whatever your means. It is often the most important part of the package.

The answer is different for the care and for the money.

The care. Not having a power of attorney or a guardian does not stop someone getting home care. The law expects providers to support people to make their own decisions for as long as they can. The one thing that needs a signature is the service agreement. If they cannot sign it themselves, the provider will talk with you about who can.

The money. This is different. Borrowing against a home, or using savings or super to pay for care, is a financial decision. Somebody must have legal authority to make it, and the document that gives it is an enduring power of attorney covering financial matters. Every state and territory has one.

If there is no enduring power of attorney yet, we suggest that you consider having one drawn up now, while they can still make their own decisions. It usually takes days, not months.

While you are doing it, ask about a second document for health and personal decisions, such as where they live and the care they have. In Queensland and the ACT the enduring power of attorney can cover these too. Everywhere else it is a separate document, and its name changes from state to state.

The word that matters is enduring. An ordinary power of attorney stops working the moment someone loses capacity, which is exactly when it is needed. Check that word is on the document.

A solicitor can prepare these. So can the public trustee where you live, and their website sets out which documents apply in your state.

• New South Wales: NSW Trustee and Guardian (opens in a new tab)
• Victoria: State Trustees (opens in a new tab)
• Queensland: Public Trustee of Queensland (opens in a new tab)
• Western Australia: Public Trustee (opens in a new tab)
• South Australia: Public Trustee (opens in a new tab)
• Tasmania: Public Trustee (opens in a new tab)
• Australian Capital Territory: Public Trustee and Guardian (opens in a new tab)
• Northern Territory: Public Guardian and Trustee (opens in a new tab)

You pay for the care from the first visit. When your first bill is due depends on how you are paying for the care. Find yours below.

If you already have the money. Your provider bills you on its normal cycle, like any private client.

If you are waiting on approval of a reverse mortgage. Your first bill is held until the loan settles, for up to eight weeks from the day care starts. Within 14 days you must show us the application has been lodged. When the loan settles it pays for the care delivered so far. If Heartland declines you, see question 9.

If you are waiting on super, shares, a term deposit or bonds. Your first bill is held until the money is released, for up to eight weeks. Within 14 days you must show us you have taken the steps to release the money. When it arrives you pay for the care delivered so far. Super can sometimes take longer than people expect, so check with your fund before you start.

If the 14 day step is missed, you no longer have up to eight weeks before your first bill. What happens next is up to the provider, and is set out in your agreement with them.

If money is late or falls through on any route other than a declined Heartland application, there is no automatic write off. We work it out with you and the provider, one family at a time.

Currently, the government funding arrives at 60 per cent of the approved amount. You top up the other 40 per cent for about ten weeks. This may change and if it does we will let you know.

Once the government funding is fully released, it pays for the care. From then on you pay only a co-contribution towards some services. See question 16.

No. One price, the whole way through.

Your provider does not charge you interest, a fee, or a higher price for care delivered before your money arrives. What you owe is exactly what it would be if you paid at the time.

The price is the same before and after the funding arrives. Only who pays it changes.

A declined Heartland application is the one case with a guarantee. If you lodged a genuine application with Heartland, kept to your side of it, and they say no, Vera pays the provider for the care you have received. That debt is forgiven, and nobody comes back to you for it: not us, not the provider, not your estate, not your family, and not out of money that reaches you later.

We carry that risk on purpose. If we get care started and Heartland says no, that is ours to wear.

Two things to be clear about.

• It covers the care you have actually received up to the decline, capped at eight weeks and at the amount you are told before care starts. If the decline lands in week three, three weeks are forgiven, not eight.
• The covered care ends at the decline. This is not eight weeks of guaranteed care. If you want care to continue after that, we will work it out with you and the provider, and it needs a new arrangement.

Three things you have to do to keep the protection.

• Within 14 days of care starting, we need something in writing from Heartland saying your application has gone in. Not an approval. Just proof you applied. With your permission they send it straight to us, so you are not the one chasing paperwork.
• Keep it moving. Answer what the lender asks, within a reasonable time.
• Be straight with them. If you knowingly give wrong information, or hold back something that matters, you lose the protection.

What it does not cover.

• A slow answer. A delay is not a decline. If Heartland has not decided by eight weeks we review it with you, and care may pause until there is an arrangement. What has built up stays payable if the loan settles later, and is forgiven if they eventually say no.
• Another lender. If you use your own lender or broker we cannot confirm what happened, so the cover does not apply.
• Any other way of paying. Cash, super, shares, a term deposit or bonds. There is no lender who can decline, so there is nothing to trigger the guarantee. If that money is late or falls through, we work it out with you and the provider, one family at a time.

You are free to use another lender or your own money.

That is the best outcome. You pay for fewer months of care yourselves.

If you have a reverse mortgage, you only pay interest on money you have actually taken. You can draw it bit by bit as the care happens, or take it all at the start. Your finance partner can explain both.

Money you drew and spent stays as a loan, repaid when the house is sold or from the estate.

Money you drew but have not spent can be paid straight back. Paying it back stops the interest.

The set up costs do not come back. Valuation, legal work and establishment fees cost much the same whether the loan ran three months or ten.

You can add care at any time, if you choose to. You do not need a reassessment. While you are paying for it yourselves, you are not limited to the level on the Notice of Decision. Just ask the provider. Once the government funding starts, anything beyond its budget is still yours to pay.

If needs have changed, a reassessment is also worth asking for. A higher level means a bigger government budget, so less of the care comes out of your pocket later. Call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422. If things have gone downhill quickly, ask about a priority reassessment. There are faster pathways for urgent need, for recovering after a hospital stay, and for end of life care. Vera can help with this.

The care you already have keeps running while you wait. Asking does not stop anything.

If you need more finance to pay for the extra care, you apply for the difference. You do not start again.

The care can be paused during a hospital stay. It starts again after discharge.

Your service agreement with the provider sets out how notice and cancellations work, and it is worth reading that part before you start.

If more care is needed afterwards, see question 11. A hospital stay is one of the most common reasons for a reassessment, and there is a restorative care pathway to help with recovery.

This is easier to think about now than later.

The Support at Home package stops. You cannot have Support at Home and permanent residential care at the same time.

Check what happens to a reverse mortgage. Your loan terms set out when it has to be repaid. A permanent move into care can be one of those times, but not always. Where one borrower still lives in the house, the loan generally carries on.

A different assessment applies. Residential aged care has its own means test, and the former home can count in it, unless a partner or certain other people still live there. It sets what you pay for your room and your care.

Residential care also usually means a room deposit or a daily payment.

This is where advice matters most. Centrelink's Financial Information Service will go through it with you, and it is free.

It is a loan secured against the home, made for older people. You borrow against what the house is worth, and you pay nothing back while you live there.

There are no monthly repayments. Interest is added to the loan instead, so the amount owed grows over time, and the whole debt is repaid when the house is sold or from the estate.

The law protects you from owing more than the house is worth. Whatever happens to interest rates or house prices, the lender cannot come after you or your family for a shortfall.

We work with one lender, Heartland Bank Australia Limited, which holds an Australian Credit Licence.

We chose them because they specialise in reverse mortgages. Most banks do not offer one at all.

Their process is built for older people, not adapted from an ordinary home loan. There are no regular repayments, so there is nothing to prove about your monthly income. And there is far less paperwork than a normal mortgage. That matters when My Aged Care has already worn you out.

You are free to go to another lender, to use your own money, or not to borrow at all. Heartland makes its own decision and can say no.

One thing to weigh before you choose. The cover in question 9 only applies to an application made to Heartland. Everything else about the program is the same whichever lender you use, including the time before your first bill.

Heartland pays us a commission when a loan settles. That is written on their referral form, which you read and sign before we send it.

A reverse mortgage and its interest are repaid when the house is sold, usually after death. The family receives what the house sells for, minus what is owed. The longer the loan runs, the more is owed.

The pension and co-contributions. Borrowing against the home, or drawing on savings or super, can change the Age Pension and the co-contribution you pay for care. Both are worked out by Services Australia from your income and assets, and the rules depend on your situation. Before you draw any money, check with Services Australia how it would affect you. Centrelink's Financial Information Service can go through it with you, and it is free.

This is information, not advice. Vera is not a financial adviser and holds no Australian Financial Services Licence or Australian Credit Licence. Nothing here is financial advice, credit advice or a recommendation, and none of it takes account of your objectives, your financial situation or your needs. The lender must give you its own documents, including a table showing how the loan grows. Read them. You may choose to talk to a licensed financial adviser before you sign anything, and to your family and your solicitor.

Vera is free, safe and secure for families, always.

You pay us nothing, at any stage. We are paid by the organisations we introduce you to.

The care provider pays us when a family starts with them. It is the same fee whatever the level or amount of care.

The lender pays us when a loan settles. We are paid the same amount on every loan, large or small, so we have nothing to gain from you borrowing more.

We are paid only if you go ahead. Your money never passes through us.

We are not a lender, a financial adviser, a credit provider or a care provider. We hold no Australian Financial Services Licence or Australian Credit Licence.