Baby boomers are outraged by a new report suggesting they should pay more for their elderly care to ease the burden on millennials, with the sector expected to cost taxpayers almost $64 billion by 2034.
Currently, taxpayers are footing a bill of more than $30 billion to support older Australians with the costs of their aged care.
But the idea that boomers should pay more for their aged care if they can afford it has been roundly rejected by Beverly Baker of the Older Women’s Network in NSW.
“When it comes to old age, we are seen as a burden… as greedy,” she told Channel 10’s The project on Tuesday evening.
‘We finance childcare, we finance schools. We finance private healthcare. We fund a lot of things and they are never seen as a burden.”
Baby boomers are outraged by a new report that says they will have to pay more for their elder care to ease the burden on millennials, as the sector is expected to cost taxpayers nearly $64 billion by 2034. The photo shows a young woman on a beach
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the huge costs to taxpayers will continue to rise as ‘oOver the next four decades, the number of Australians aged 85 and over will more than triple.
“So there’s going to be an extraordinary amount of pressure.”
Tom Symondson, of the Aged and Community Care Providers Association, said: ‘The taxpayer as a whole already funds 75 per cent of residential care and 59 per cent of home care.
“We need to see if wealthier Australians can contribute more… We’ve had a financially unsustainable aged care system for decades and everyone knows it.”
A previous royal commission into the sector proposed a 1 percent Medicare-style levy to fund the services, but the new report rejected that proposal.
However, there are suggestions that home ownership status and whether or not someone is eligible for the age pension could be taken into account when deciding whether those using the aged care sector should pay a greater share of the costs.
“It seems to me that this report was written by the providers, for the providers,” Ms. Baker said. “Devising ways for them to get more money.”
But Mr Symondson said the perception that the sector is making huge profits is “not true” and the funding model must change to continue to provide “quality” aged care to Australians.
When The Project’s Waleed Aly asked Ms. Baker if that’s what seniors should do dip into their super to fund their elderly care, she gave an impassioned response.
Over the next four decades, the number of Australians aged 85 and over will more than triple. The photo shows a woman walking with a Zimmer frame
‘The pension is intended to take care of you as you get older. We have given up tax cuts and salary increases to contribute to our super. It was not there to be milked by predatory providers to ensure their profits were maintained,” she said.
‘I have no problem if I die and have nothing left in my super. I have a huge problem if I not only have nothing left in my super, but my savings, my house, have also disappeared through the gargle into the pockets of providers.
‘We need clarity about what is tested on the substances. How much can these providers charge you for rent?’
Aly insisted that the ever-increasing costs had to be covered somehow taxes, levies or pension contributions.
“Waleed, what I worry about is that we are seen as a cost center,” she replied. “I heard baby boomers being called a ‘baby boomer tsunami.’
“I don’t hear the millennials being called a tsunami, but they still outnumber us. We need to stop this ageist stuff and look at what we need and how we can fund it fairly.”
Beverly Baker (pictured) from the Older Women’s Network in NSW said it is wrong for baby boomers to be seen as ‘greedy’
Ms Baker added: ‘When Covid started it was called the ‘boomer remover’. How insulting. This is a conscious strategy. People believe that baby boomers are greedy and have hoarded everything and stolen everything.
‘They don’t understand that we grew up on dirt roads and run around barefoot. We changed things and built the wealth this country shares for everyone.
‘We are still seen as a burden. I don’t think this is a reasonable or fair statement, but it is a very clever way to keep us fighting each other, instead of looking at the real problem, the inequality and unfair tax system that is rooting and trapping the rich on the arm.’
Project co-host Kate Langbroek was so impressed by Ms Barker’s answer that she said: ‘That’s where the wisdom of the elderly lies. Amen.’