Director |Certified Financial Planner | Aged Care Professional
There are some new benefits for older Australians who live in NSW.
These benefits are solely provided to help out seniors in terms of their living costs and also to support them for some health care and hospitalisation needs.
The New Seniors Savers Card
For older Australians who are 60 and over, this card will entitle them to receive discounts from 7,000 business establishments. But the Seniors Savers Card will not allow holders to be eligible for Gold Opal Cards. These Gold Opal Cards currently cap daily commute fare at $2.50 which the government also decided to freeze for the next four years.
The existing NSW Seniors Card
This will still continue to be available as previously, only holders of this card were given discounts as opposed to the New Seniors Savers Card. For the low Income self- funded retirees who hold a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, they will receive the following benefits:
- Eligible for $200 pa energy concession starting 1st July 2019.
An estimated 130,000 retirees will benefit from this.
- Pensioners and CSHC in rural and regional areas will also receive $250 travel card for fuel, taxis, train and coach fares.
Health Personnel
To address the need of the Public Health Sector for health personnel, the government agreed to increase:
- 5000 nurses
- 100 palliative care nurses
- 1,060 doctors, specialists and health workers
- 1360 support staff
Almost half of these additional health staff and personnel were allocated to regional areas.
Eye Care for Older Australians
- 10,000 cataract surgeries will be funded over the next 4 years especially to those who are still on the waiting list for this type of surgery which is mostly common in older Australians.
Hospital Funding for these areas have been allocated:
- Tweed
- Maitland
- Macksville
- Mudgee
Work willl start on hospitals at:
- Bankstown
- Lidcombe
- Eurobodalla
For seniors wanting to learn about savings, they can make an appointment with Service NSW Cost of Living expert which they can book in person, by phone or using their website www.service.nsw.gov.au
At Verante Financial Planning, we will also be able to answer more of your queries on a personal level that is suited for your individual needs. Please visit our website, www.verante.com.au to know more.
