Blog #04 Fact #03 What is a Daily Accommodation Contribution(DAC)?
Blog #04 FACT #03 What is a DAC?
· Short name for ‘Daily Accommodation Contribution”
· What is it? – An amount of money that someone may be asked to contribute as a contribution towards their accommodation in an aged care facility. Any balance owing is paid by the government as an accommodation supplement.
· How does someone find out they will have to pay a Daily Accommodation Contribution ? – Once Centrelink have assessed a person’s assets and income, the outcome will determine if they are likely to be asked to pay a Daily Accommodation Contribution
· How is it calculated? Let us look at an example of a single person with $100,000 of total assets + $45,000 in income and was assessed in January 2021 by Centrelink to enter an aged care facility
For Assets > $51,500 (17.5% up to $173,075.20) eg. Someone with $100,000 in assets would be assessed as:
($100,000 -$51,500) x 17.5% = $8,487.50/364 = $23.31 a day
For Income > $28,472.60 (50% of anything in excess is assessable under the income test) eg.
Someone with $45,000 in income would be assessed as:
($45,000-$28,472.60) x 50% =$ 16,527.40 x .5 = $8,263.70/364 = $22.70 a day
Total Assets test calculation $ 23.31
Total Income test calculation $ 22.70
Total assessment before accommodation supplement deducted $ 46.01
· Total assessed is then deducted from the accommodation supplement that is provided to the facility. The amount of supplement paid by the government depends on the ratio of Low Means Residents [LMR] to Market Price Residents [MPR]) on the day. The current maximum supplement is $58.19 a day (as of January 2021). Therefore in this example the DAC is calculated as:
Accommodation Supplement $59.49
Less Total Assessed $46.01
Daily Accommodation Payment $13.48
· Is it possible not to have pay a Daily Accommodation Payment at all ? Yes