Age Pension

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Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

The preamble to the legislation establishing an age pension about 1910 made it clear that the pension was not to be the sole support of claimants but a supplement to those who for reason of incapacity or misfortune were unable to FULLY PROVIDE for themselves in the senior years.

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most i have ever gotten back for all my tax paid was $2 a month each child endowment for 3 kids, way back when

i had a couple of bouts with the CES but always found my own jobs before they even processed their paper work

i started my own business so i didnt have to deal with them, can't see that my sense of entitlement is going to change anytime soon...

missed all the handouts from various goverments over the years so i dont have high expectations shall we say....

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Originally Posted by Grumbles

You don't necessarily have to be of retirement age to get the Health Care Card. It can be issued way before retirement age. Your accountant/financial advisor is the man to talk to.

The other thing is if there are problems from Centrelink re your application then your finance man will deal with them....not you.

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i know, i had a shot when i nearly died a few years back and could only work in 15 minute sessions every couple of hours for a while

went through the whole rigmarole and was left waiting for a response that i never recieved until 12 months later when they said seeing i hadnt reapplied they were cancelling it.

they never advised i got it in the first place...

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Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

The preamble to the legislation establishing an age pension about 1910 made it clear that the pension was not to be the sole support of claimants but a supplement to those who for reason of incapacity or misfortune were unable to FULLY PROVIDE for themselves in the senior years.

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I stand corrected. My info came from a mental health support group, can't recall all the details but while the amount paid was/is "not huge" it adequetly supported most recipients. Funded by 'several % points' increase in taxation.
The story is...this money was quarantined for a long time, grew nicely...then was "discovered" by a politician.... You can guess the rest. [bigsad][bigsad][bigsad]

In fairness.... most retirees only lasted a few years beyone Gold Watch Day, so no great drain on the Pot, despite the then existance of a Widow's Pension...

Note the disparity of conditions between ours.... and Polly Pensions.[bigwhistle]

Like... retiring on a $quillion...then picking up a job/ position paying hundreds of thousands... or a State polly becoming a Federal one... eligible - after qualifying - for both State and Fed. parliamentary pensions ?
No wonder the Great Unwashed have a "basic" opinion of them .

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Originally Posted by incisor

i mainly just want the health care card... at the end of the day

i am a few years away from actually wanting to play the complete pensioner game, to be frank

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I'd also rather work and earn... the stress of dealing with centrelink adds insult to the injury (from doctor & hospital) that decimated my working life.
The Health Care Card is worth fighting for.

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Originally Posted by incisor

well they tell me you can start applying for the age pension 3 months before you actually get there

should make for a fun friday :p

anyone played the game recently ?

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I played the game in December last year Dave. I was 69 when I applied and have only worked part time casual for the past 7 years before completely retiring. I have to say collecting the documents and information required was a nightmare. I did it on line and it was a PITA to complete. Sometimes you would input info and copies of documents and when you entered it the system would time out and not accept it - apparently too many inputing info at the same time so you would have to sign out and then login and try again, sometimes 6 times before it accepted it. My wife still works so her income and super was taken into account. As others have said they want to know every last cent both of you have in savings, super and any income accounts plus property and cars, boats, caravans etc even any money you have given away to family is assessed as still being in your account. Even had to keep suppling my wifes payslips for a month after it was assesses. I applied in mid December and some weeks later I get a message in MYGOV account saying it would be early Feb before it will be assessed. True to form it took that long to be finalised and I ended up with the princely sum of $112 per fortnight backpaid to December when I lodged the application. I had previously gone into the Centrelink office and had an assessment done by the financial services officer who estimated I would receive $280. And they give you no explanation of their decision. Good idea to get in 3 months early as I would say it will take that long especially now. The card helps with council rates and medication costs and I can now get GP's fees bulk billed. I have never been on any sort of benefit in my whole life and we received no child endowment or childcare help because my wife decided to go back to work as soon as possible so we could afford to buy our own home and missed out on the first home owners grant thanks to the government at the time who also gave us interest rates of 19%. From my observations I would have been better of squandering my money and not putting anything into super and eventually I would have got the full pension and rent allowance. It seems you get punished for trying to do the right thing in life. Pity the same rules weren't applied to the pollies pension. Good luck with it and I can guarantee you will end up with less hair than before you started haha

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Originally Posted by incisor

i mainly just want the health care card... at the end of the day

I am a few years away from actually wanting to play the complete pensioner game, to be frank

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I am going through that at the moment , just filled out all the paperwork for the financial adviser to handle it . Have to go have meeting with him as soon as I can get in. He suggested we apply our Super has been hit hard in last 6 months & wife's medication bills are expensive.

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Originally Posted by superquag

The Health Care Card is worth fighting for.

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That is something I will never be able to get but I do help with the management of my 85yo uncles affairs - he does not get the pension. A little while back in one year his income on his tax return put him over the income limit for the Seniors Health Care card and CentreLink took it off him - fair enough but it was a one off, and the following years his tax income has always been well below the limit.

So I apply to have the Seniors Health Care Card reinstated on the basis of his Tax Returns - nope doesn't work that way - different process to get it back - it is impossible and after 15 months I have given up. They always want more information after you have provided what they have asked for and then as they take so long that they then want updated information on information you have already provided.

Result is that an 85yo man living in a nursing home with probable dementia does not have a Health Care Card - one of the issues that slipped through the cracks is that the nursing home sends residents to medical appointments via Patient Transport Ambulances, so the his last medical appoint cost $500 because he did not have a Health Care Card - I have fixed this with Ambulance Cover but is an impost.

Stay right away from Centrelink if you can - they will do your head in [bigsad]

Oh - last month he gets a letter form them saying that they will cut off his pension if he does not provide information - wtf - he does not get anything from Centrelink, so nothing to take off him - the only thing is is entitled too is the Health Care Card and that is just too hard to do.

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Originally Posted by incisor

well they tell me you can start applying for the age pension 3 months before you actually get there

should make for a fun friday :p

anyone played the game recently ?

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A couple of very important points to remember:

When declaring your assets, Centrelink expect you to value them at "firesale" value. In other words, your Rolls Royce may be worth $150k on paper and on a good day, however if you need to dispose of it quickly, (firesale) you may only get around $100k if you see what I mean.

Likewise, if you have a $2mill Rembrandt hanging on the wall which you inherited 50 yrs ago, it might pay to forget to include it in your assets.[bigwhistle]

Centrelink is very 'generous' when valuing your house chattels, ie, fridge, TV, lounge suite etc, and they accept around $8k or less.

When you do finally get it sorted, every 6 months go into your personal site and write down each of your assets around 5% or so (10% annual) or whatever % you deem suitable. This applies to car/s, caravan, boat etc. It's very easy to do even for an illiterate computer mug like me, and makes a difference.

We went through the hoops about six and also eight years ago. Our ages are offset by eighteen months.
Yes, it is a saga to get all of the info up-to-date. The Aged Pension Application processing centre is not where you can front up and explain. Take a document in to an office and they scan them to send of to somewhere else.

Apply early, the eligible date i.e. turning of age, is when payments will be backdated to. Even if you don't get much of a pension the rebates/discounts add up to a tidy sum.

But you do need to consult a financial advisor or three to sort out Allocated Pension vs shares vs other investments. Some can work for you, some can work against you. Goes for advisors too.

Be upfront, keep appointments, be polite and tell them everything. You will then get help to get it right. They will not advise, but do help with crossing the ttt's.

Once sorted and it all goes through it is then plain sailing. If otherwise then there has been a mis-understanding of the requirements or something has gone missing. Just comply, wait, expect a delay. What you are due will arrive eventually. Income and type of income, assets, possessions and partner's situation all come into it.


Go for it.

I’ve just been through it. Never thought I would qualify - but at the start of the lockdown I got bored and thought I would test the system.

A quick trip to Centrelink to get a number, 3 solid day’s work, and the upload of 25+ documents later the claim was submitted. I did a joint application for my wife and self.

Six weeks later I was advised that the claim had been approved - and a couple of weeks after that I received a health card in the mail and our fortnightly $38 age part-pension in our bank account. Yaaaaaaah!

2 months later (just last week) I got a phone call to advise that the claim had been reviewed and the health card and pension cancelled.

The best bit was the stunned silence on the other end of the phone after I said, “Oh no! How are we going to live”?

Interesting given that nothing had changed since I had submitted the claim.