Moving into residential aged care is a significant life event, and for veterans, understanding the financial aspects, particularly means testing, can feel like navigating a complex map. The Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) aims to simplify this process, offering guidance to ensure veterans and their families feel supported.
At its heart, a means assessment for aged care is about understanding your financial picture – your income and assets. This review helps determine the level of government subsidy you might be eligible for and, consequently, how much you'll contribute towards your care costs. It's a process that can take some time, so getting it underway early is a good idea to avoid any unexpected financial pressures in those initial months of settling into a new home.
Now, who handles this assessment? It depends on your specific circumstances. The DVA manages the means assessment for veterans, their partners, and war widow(er)s who are receiving certain DVA income support pensions, such as the service pension, income support supplement, or the age pension administered by DVA. It also covers veterans with qualifying service receiving a DVA Disability Compensation Payment, and war widow(er)s receiving a DVA war widow(er)'s pension along with the income support supplement.
For all other DVA clients, Services Australia will conduct the aged care means assessment. If you're unsure about your situation or the payments you receive, reaching out to the DVA on 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372) is the best way to confirm who will be completing your assessment.
Getting started with the DVA process, if it applies to you, involves submitting your income and asset information. There are a couple of key forms to consider. If you have approved qualifying service, or if you haven't updated your income and assets in the last six months and are receiving one of the specified DVA income support payments, you'll likely need to complete the SA457 – Residential Aged Care – Calculation of your cost of care form. Alternatively, if you're a homeowner who has updated your income and assets within the last six months and are receiving those DVA income support payments, the SA485 – Residential Aged Care Property details for Services Australia and DVA customers form is the one to use. And a helpful note: if you don't own property and receive one of the listed DVA income support payments, you can often update your details and request a means test assessment over the phone by calling 1800 VETERAN.
Once your form is complete, you'll need to send it, along with any supporting documents, to the DVA. You can do this via email to income.support.aged.care@dva.gov.au, making sure to include your name and DVA file number in the subject line. Alternatively, you can post it to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Aged Care Assets Assessments, GPO Box 9998, Brisbane QLD 4001. It's always a good idea to keep copies of everything you send, just in case.
For those who might need a hand navigating these steps, you can nominate a representative. This could be a partner, a relative, a legal representative, or an organisation. Setting this up can be done through MyService or by completing a specific form, the 'Appointing a third party to represent a DVA client'. Just remember, this authorisation is specific to the DVA; other government departments might have their own arrangements.
Understanding these financial processes is a crucial part of planning for aged care. The DVA's resources, including guides and the ability to connect with them directly, are there to help make this journey as smooth as possible for our veterans.
