Retirement Planning & Experiences

[mrsterryn]

No wonder the hospitals have wards full of older Australians who happily occupy a hospital bed for ZERO cost

Actually I believe if a person is in hospital under the guise of waiting for a nursing home bed, not due to needing hospital care they can be charged a daily fee. They can also be eligible for rent assistance in those situations
"Accommodation in hospital
An income support recipient who is a nursing-home type patient of a hospital as defined by the Health Insurance Act 1973 may be eligible for RA if they have been provided with accommodation and nursing care, for a continuous period of over 35 days."

 

[JohnK]

Actually I believe if a person is in hospital under the guise of waiting for a nursing home bed, not due to needing hospital care they can be charged a daily fee. They can also be eligible for rent assistance in those situations

Or they can just let them die and that way they are not a burden.

Our aged care in Australia is horrendous. Up to $1mil or more refundable deposit. And then $70-$80K/year on top to be bullied and not taken care of properly and with dignity? Seriously? What happened to the Royal Commission? What happened to jailing and de-registering the bullies?

That's why we're off to Thailand if we ever need care. I know we have a house but top rental accommodation away from Bangkok is at most 30,000 baht/month, top health insurance around 250,000 baht/year and really good home care 250,000 baht/year. I'd be stunned if you needed more than 150,000 baht/year on food at home.

 

[kookaburra75]

Its not as simple as I first thought as a few % extra returns from well placed investments adds up quick. When the time comes I will need to look into diversifying into some other investments that have decent returns.

Another thing you need to think about, if you haven't already, is make sure your will is up to date and your wishes regarding funeral plans etc are known to your family or executor. It makes things a lot simpler when you shuffle off - as it happens to all of some time.

 

[Pushka]

No wonder the hospitals have wards full of older Australians who happily occupy a hospital bed for ZERO cost

They can't get out if they want to. There are no places. Currently over 300 in SA's hospitals unnecessarily.

 

[Brissy1]

They can't get out if they want to. There are no places. Currently over 300 in SA's hospitals unnecessarily.

And it's not a new problem that suddenly arose, I know personally that it was an issue 20 years ago at Brisbane's flagship RBH.