Australia Defers Home Care Price Caps Indefinitely Amid Volatility Concerns

Long-awaited home care price caps to stop older Australians from being overcharged have been deferred indefinitely, but other financial protections have been introduced in the meantime.

The government has put off the price limits, originally due to start in July, for fear of baking in "volatile" cost increases resulting from the Iran war.

"We don't want to set in place a price cap that really leads to unintended consequences, particularly that sees prices go up," Health Minister Mark Butler told ABC radio on Tuesday.

Hundreds of thousands of people rely on the Support at Home program, which provides help with cleaning, showering, transport and clinical supports like nursing and occupational therapy.

In the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which does have price limits, most providers set their prices at the cap, Mr Butler said.

"We'll do some more work, particularly through a period that hopefully sees this price volatility … essentially sort of flow through the system," he said.

In a bid to better protect older Australians while the price caps are being developed, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission will have the power to order refunds for services where providers are found to be overcharging.

The commission will also be able to take action against providers who don't issue monthly statements and require regular public reporting on investigations and enforcement action.

Reports showing different prices for Support at Home will be published so older Australians and their families can see how their provider compares.

Stronger protections against 'rogue' market prices

Aged Care Minister Sam Rae said the government had listened to older Australians and their families who called for stronger protections against "rogue" market prices.

"We've listened, and we're acting," he said in a statement.

The government will also encourage providers to limit price increases to no more than two per year, so older people can budget their packages.

Advocacy group Council on the Ageing welcomed the new measures but warned the hard work on price caps would need to continue.

"What matters is not the mechanism itself, but whether older people are genuinely protected from excessive and unreasonable pricing," chief executive Pat Sparrow said in a statement.

The peak body for aged care providers described the price cap plan as "premature" and said more time was needed to get settings in the sector right.

"With no independent costing study completed since the Support at Home program commenced in November, any caps set now would not be able to account for the true cost of delivering quality services," Ageing Australia chief executive Tom Symondson said in a statement.

"Most importantly, this [deferral] avoids sweeping confusion for providers and older people alike."

It comes as the health minister said looming changes to private health insurance rebates would not be scrapped for older Australians, despite criticism from the demographic.

Discounts on the rebates for over-65s will be wound back, with more than three million people set to pay about $240 a year more for insurance.

Mr Butler said the measures were to redirect funding into aged care and make the rebates equitable among age groups.

"It's unwelcome to many, but [it comes] at a time of real challenge in our budget and the need to find every dollar we can into aged care," he said.

"Where there are two households next door to each other on the same income, paying them a different subsidy for their private health insurance simply based on age was not sustainable going forward."