Stop the exploitation: Rebekha Sharkie takes on the aged care sharks with new Bill to regulate hidden fees for in-home services

Hills MP Rebekha Sharkie has vowed to stop aged care providers gouging vulnerable South Australians like Margaret Carrangis with exorbitant hidden fees.

Elderly South Australians would have their in-home aged care bills slashed under a new push to stop providers “rorting” the state’s most vulnerable citizens.

Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie will on Monday propose new legislation to federal parliament to cap the amount of money aged care providers can charge under the guise of “administration” costs.

Existing laws only require providers to keep their administration fees at a “reasonable” level, but Ms Sharkie says some elderly people in Mayo reported being charged up to 50 per cent in ambiguous fees on minimal care packages.

Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie will propose legislation to cap in-home aged care administration fees on Monday.

Ms Sharkie said some providers even bury the costs in inflated hourly rates.

“The government needs to stop the rorting and introduce pricing caps,” she said.

Ms Sharkie’s Bill, if approved by parliament, would cap administration fees at 25 per cent for basic care packages and 20 per cent for high care needs.

It would also mandate the fees be clearly defined and not hidden in hourly rates, and ban exit fees to change providers.

A survey of 1200 elderly people in Mayo found 94 per cent were unable to afford daily care and half were either unhappy or unsure about their administration fees.

“Some of these people were only able to afford one hour of cleaning or gardening a fortnight,” Ms Sharkie said.

“Their care plans have hardly changed from one year to another, but they were still being charged up to 50 per cent in administration fees.”

Margaret Carrangis, who has Parkinson's disease, is supporting Rebekha Sharkie’s attempts to end home care fee “rorting”. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Beaumont resident Margaret Carrangis, who has Parkinson’s disease, said she was hit with “excessive” fees despite only receiving four hours of care per week.

“My daily fee did not warrant me staying in the scheme when I was only receiving four hours per week,” she said.

“As I have Parkinson’s disease, this has left me in a very vulnerable situation.”

Her former care provider offered a private arrangement at $60 per hour but Ms Carrangis hired a private cleaner at $30 per hour.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said a “number of measures” to make care more affordable had been introduced since 2013, including an $18.4m investment into improving comparability of pricing on the My Aged Care website.

“Further measures will be considered to ensure senior Australians are receiving value for money through their home care packages and that providers are not charging excessive fees,” he said.