Have you heard about Home Care Package supplements?
Home Care Package supplements provide recipients who are eligible with more funding, or equipment on top of their package allocation.
There are a variety of Home Care Package supplements that you could be eligible for dependent on your care needs. These Home Care Package supplements are in addition to your assessed regular Home Care Package funding.
What Home Care Package supplements?
The Home Care Package supplements you could be eligible for include:
1. The Dementia and Cognition Supplement.
The Dementia and Cognition Supplement is aimed to provide additional support for people with moderate to severe cognitive impairment from dementia or other conditions.
Your eligibility for this Home Care Package supplement based on specific criteria and a diagnosis of dementia isn’t sufficient.
Your eligibility is dependant on the level of diagnosis and those with low levels of cognitive impairment are not eligible for the supplement.
2. The Enteral Feeding Supplement.
The Enteral Feeding Supplement supports care recipients with a prescribed need for enteral feeding.
This is where a person gets nutrients through a tube in their nose, stomach or small intestine. The supplement is not payable for dietary formulas that are taken orally, used as food supplements, or administered in addition to food by mouth.
To apply for the supplement, will be through the enteral feeding supplement online with Services Australia.
3. The Oxygen Supplement.
The Oxygen Supplement supports care recipients who have an assessed medical need for continual oxygen therapy.
The supplement is not payable for an emergency. It’s also not payable for short-term illnesses, for example bronchitis.
You apply for this supplement through the oxygen supplement online with Services Australia.
4. The Veterans’ Supplement.
The Veterans’ Supplement helps with the cost of caring for those veterans with a mental health condition that is directly related to their service.
To be eligible you must both have a mental health condition that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) accepts as being related to your service and be a Veteran.
The DVA and Services Australia will match information to check eligibility.
5. The Top-up Supplement.
This supplement tops up the dementia and cognition supplement. It’s for people who had an EACH-D package before transferring to a home care level 4 package plus dementia and cognition supplement.
6. The Hardship Supplement.
The Hardship Supplement is there to support hose who are facing serious financial hardship. The Australian Government will support you with paying some or all of your aged care fees and charges if you are approved for this supplement.
This will then be paid directly to the Provider of your choice on your behalf and could cover things like the basic daily fee or Income Tested Fee.
This supplement helps care recipients who are both in financial hardship and cannot pay their aged care fees and charges because of circumstances beyond their control.
7. The Viability Supplement.
The Viability Supplement is designed to support aged care providers in providing services to home care recipients who live in rural or remote locations. If a Home Care recipient is eligible for this supplement it will be paid directly to the Provider.
Your eligibility is based on your location and Modified Monash Model (MMM) suburb and locality classification is used to clarify whether the recipient is eligible for this supplement. The more remote the location, the higher the rating. Ratings of MMM 4 or higher are eligible.
How can you find out if you are eligible for Home Care Package supplements?
You can chat to your Home Care Package Provider about supplements that you could be eligible for. For many of the supplements, the Provider will complete the assessment with you, and you will also work with a medical professional to complete documentation.
Eligibility criteria is dependent on the subsidy. There is more information about how to find out your eligibility here:
What do I receive with the subsidy?
The Australian government decides the subsidy rates. Dependent on the subsidy, you will receive additional funding on top of your basic level of Home Care Package funding, or it could be access to additional services or equipment.
The following link shows you the subsidy schedules. These are updated every year:
https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/schedule-of-subsidies-and-supplements-for-aged-care
We hope this blog post has been helpful and you have learned more about Home Care Package Supplements. If you want to find out more about Home Care Packages or the services that are available, we are always there to help.
Give one of our care experts a call to discuss, or download our Info Kit here: https://enrichliving.com.au/info-kit/
