Aged care rorts: Australians forced to buy overpriced equipment that’s cheaper at Bunnings

Older Australians are being dudded out of their home care funds which could be better spent so they have more to survive on, argues Julie Cross.

When it comes to rorts in the system, let’s talk about in-home care where people are being forced to spend taxpayers money on overpriced equipment, when the same items can be found for less in Bunnings.

Take the case of poor John, 84, who is on oxygen 24/7, and is on a level 3 Home Care Package.

He contacted me after last week’s column on NDIS rorts to tell me about the amount of money the Government is wasting in aged care.

He practically weeps every time he needs to buy equipment and his provider tells him he has to buy it through their preferred supplier - sometimes at 10 times the cost of buying it elsewhere.

Aged care rorts are more prevalent than many might think, wasting money elderly Australians need to survive. Picture: Thinkstock

He’d much rather spend his allotted money more carefully, so he has more to spend on actual care, but he’s not allowed.

The first purchase he made via his care provider was a shower chair, which through the approved supplier cost $299.

John found a perfectly suitable one for $30.

He cited another example of a plastic chair listed for $100. The exact same chair could be bought at Bunnings for $25.

Some items are cheaper at Bunnings. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Then he needed a big purchase, a hospital type bed. From the preferred supplier it was more than $4000.

He found one where the only difference was the height couldn’t be changed, but would still suit his needs. The cost for delivering and installing it was $1705.

Meanwhile, of his $107 a day he gets from the Government, $20 of that goes to the provider for admin costs.

That leaves him with $87 a day to pay for a support worker ($74 an hour), or a nurse check up ($148 an hour), of which the provider gets a cut of that too.

John could not afford to save for a hospital bed, so he borrowed the money and paid it back from his pension, which meant he had to skip a lot of meals because he couldn’t afford to eat.

Meanwhile, the aged care providers are laughing all the way to the bank.

Do you have a story about aged care or the NDIS? Send me an email to [e-mail].

Originally published as Aged care rorts: Australians forced to buy overpriced equipment that’s cheaper at Bunnings