May 13, 2026 RDL Financial Planning

Government support measures

Pension supplement changes for overseas recipients

From 20 September 2026, recipients of the Pension Supplement who travel overseas for longer than 6 weeks but shorter than 12 weeks may receive a higher rate of payment during this time as the full rate of the Pension Supplement will be used to determine their payment for 12 weeks. However, recipients who travel overseas for more than 12 weeks will receive a lower rate of payment after 12 weeks as the Pension Supplement will drop to nil from this time.

Uniform private health insurance rebate

The higher private health insurance rebate that applies for older Australians aged 65 and over will be abolished from 1 April 2027, making private health insurance more expensive for older Australians. For example, for every $100 of private health insurance currently paid by a senior Australian who are single earning less than $105,000 or in a family earning less $210,000, the cost will increase by $5.60 (if age between 65 to 69) or $11.85 (if age 70 and over).

No contributions for personal care

From 1 October 2026, personal care services will be reclassified as ‘clinical supports’ under the Support at Home program. These services generally relate to assistance with self-care and activities of daily living (eg help with showering, dressing and eating). Support at Home participants will not be asked to pay an individual contribution for this type of service that are within their allocated budget. At present participants may contribute up to 50% of the costs of these services.

Aged care accommodation changes

From 1 January 2027, to increase the number of residential aged care places the Government will provide facilities with the following capital subsidies:

• New Home Payment ($30 per supported resident per day, payable for up to 25 years), a payment for newly constructed homes.
• Significant Improvement Payment ($15 per supported resident per day, payable for up to 15 years), for homes that increase the supply of places by 40% through an extension or significant refurbishment of offline beds.

Supported residents will also benefit from increases to the accommodation supplements paid to providers from 2027. It is also proposed that the more supported residents a home cares for, the more they will receive. Homes that have more than 60% supported residents will get an additional top-up payment from 2028. By 1 July 2027, the Government also plans to implement changes to accommodation pricing, including replacing the maximum interest rate with an alternative way to convert a daily payment into a refundable deposit.