Life in care

Does DVA pay for aged care?

Updated 24 August 2026

No. The Department of Veterans' Affairs does not pay a veteran's aged care fees in general. DVA expects its clients to fund government-subsidised aged care, residential aged care included, on the same basis as other Australians. The Commonwealth Government pays a subsidy for each resident in an aged care home, and the resident contributes an amount fixed by an assessment of their income and assets. DVA support is added on top of that structure. DVA pays the basic daily fee for former prisoners of war and Victoria Cross recipients, and neither group pays a means tested care fee. The Veterans' Supplement for residential care, $8.18 a day, may be paid on behalf of a veteran in Commonwealth-subsidised residential aged care with an approved provider whose mental health condition DVA has accepted as service-related. That rate was current on the DVA page last updated 31 October 2025, and Services Australia pays it straight to the aged care home. For some veterans and war widow(er)s, DVA completes the means assessment itself.

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What DVA pays towards a veteran's aged care

DVA support for a veteran in an aged care home is directed at specific costs and specific groups. None of its main forms is a general payment of the resident's fees.

• The basic daily fee for former prisoners of war and Victoria Cross recipients. DVA places former prisoners of war and Victoria Cross recipients under what it calls a special financial arrangement, and warns that some fees can still fall to the resident despite it. Under that arrangement DVA pays their basic daily fee, and both groups are exempt from the means tested care fee. Every other DVA client, war widow(er)s included, must contribute towards their residential aged care costs, with the amount set by their income and assets.
• The Veterans' Supplement for residential care. Eligibility for the Veterans' Supplement for residential care is narrow. Neither war widow(er)s nor dependants qualify, and nor does a veteran whose mental health condition DVA has not accepted as service-related. An eligible veteran does not apply for the supplement and does not sit an assessment before the facility starts receiving it. Across a year the supplement totals more than $2,900 a client, on DVA's aged care supports page last updated 31 October 2025, and the payment continues for the period of care.
• Travel to DVA-approved medical appointments. DVA may contribute towards transport, meals and accommodation costs for an eligible veteran or war widow(er) living in an aged care facility. The contribution applies where that resident has to travel to attend a DVA-approved medical appointment. Trips a family makes to visit a parent in a nursing home fall outside it.
• Aids, appliances and allied health beyond what the home supplies. DVA will not fund items the aged care home is already funded to provide. DVA may fund customised aids and appliances that reach past the home's own supply. A veteran or war widow(er) may also be able to reach allied health services, aids and appliances through DVA arrangements, where clinical need supports the item and an authorised referral source has made the referral.

Does a DVA Gold Card cover aged care?

No. The Veteran Gold Card, formally the Veteran Card - All Conditions, is a treatment card. It makes no payment towards aged care fees. The card covers clinically required medical treatment for every medical condition, anywhere in Australia. Treatment is usually free where the provider accepts the card, though high cost dental items can leave out-of-pocket expenses. A Veteran Gold Card holder can use it for every medical appointment, hospital admission included.

Inside an aged care home the Veteran Gold Card still works for products and services, with one limit. My Aged Care states that a resident can use a Veteran Card in an aged care home for some products and services, provided none of them duplicates what the home already supplies. The practical effect is narrow. The card changes what a veteran pays for medical treatment, and it leaves the basic daily fee, the accommodation costs and the care contributions untouched.

What a veteran still pays for residential aged care

A veteran pays the same residential aged care fees as any other resident. Which set of fees applies depends on when they entered permanent care. How residents contribute to their aged care costs changed on 1 November 2025 under the new Aged Care Act, which brought in a hotelling contribution and a non-clinical care contribution. A resident already in permanent residential care by 31 October 2025 keeps the fee arrangements they had, unless they opted in to the new ones.

• Basic daily fee. Every aged care home resident pays the basic daily fee. My Aged Care states that the fee is set at 85% of the basic Age Pension's single person rate. The maximum is $66.80 a day, or $24,382 a year, under the residential care fee schedule effective 1 July 2026. Indexation on 20 March and 20 September each year moves that maximum twice a year.
• Hotelling contribution (1 November 2025 arrangements). The hotelling contribution covers a resident's daily living costs, and residents who can afford to contribute more towards those costs pay it. The contribution runs to a ceiling set by the hotelling supplement, $22.15 a day from 1 July 2026, and the government pays the balance. That ceiling is indexed in March and September.
• Non-clinical care contribution (1 November 2025 arrangements). The non-clinical care contribution leaves out a resident's cost of clinical care and is capped at $107.32 a day from 1 July 2026. Two stopping points apply. A resident stops paying it once total contributions reach $137,917.01, or after four years of cumulative contributions, whichever comes first. Both the daily cap and the lifetime cap change with indexation in March and September.
• Means tested care fee (1 July 2014 arrangements). For a resident still under the older arrangements, My Aged Care puts the means tested care fee between $0 and $372.03 a day from 1 July 2026. The fee is capped at $35,910.43 a year and at $86,185.23 across a lifetime. Both caps change with indexation in March and September.

How accommodation costs work

Accommodation is charged separately from the daily fees, and a resident with low means may pay nothing towards it. Where a single resident's income sits below $35,521.20 and their assets below $64,500.00, the Australian Government covers their full accommodation costs. Those two thresholds are the income free area and the asset free area in the residential care fee schedule effective 1 July 2026, and both change with indexation.

A resident who does pay accommodation costs can pay by refundable lump sum, by daily payment, or by a combination. For a first entry to permanent residential aged care on or after 1 November 2025, the provider keeps a small slice of the lump sum balance, calculated at 2% per annum. That slice is not refunded when the resident leaves care. After five years in care, no further retention amounts come out.

A resident paying part of their accommodation cost by refundable deposit must be left with at least $64,500 in assets, per the same 1 July 2026 schedule. A provider cannot charge a refundable accommodation deposit above $789,686 without prior approval from the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority, again from 1 July 2026.

How much money can you have in the bank for aged care?

No bank balance disqualifies a veteran from an aged care home. Savings change what the resident contributes, not whether they can enter care. The residential aged care means assessment counts savings and other assets under rules that vary with the type of asset and with the resident's household.

• Bank accounts count as financial assets, at a deemed rate. Bank, building society and credit union accounts are included when DVA or Services Australia assesses a resident's assets. The assessment applies a deemed rate of income to financial assets, so a resident's actual interest earnings do not count. Anything earned above the deemed amount is ignored.
• A member of a couple is assessed on half the combined figures. The assessment counts half the couple's combined income and half their combined assets. Whoever earns the income, and whichever name holds the asset, the split stays the same.
• The former home is counted only up to a capped amount. A resident who keeps the family home has it counted at a capped $214,884.00, or at the net market value of the house where that is lower. My Aged Care states the cap as at 20 March 2026, and the residential care fee schedule effective 1 July 2026 lists the same figure.
• A protected person in the home removes it from the assessment. A protected person includes a partner, a dependent child, or an eligible carer or close relative. Where one of them is living in the principal home as the resident moves into residential care, the home is not counted as an asset at all.

Who completes a veteran's aged care means assessment?

DVA completes the aged care means assessment for veterans and war widow(er)s who receive DVA income support pensions. DVA also completes it for veterans on DVA Disability Compensation Payment with qualifying service. Services Australia handles the aged care means assessment for every other DVA client.

Where DVA runs the assessment, the veteran updates their details on Services Australia form SA457, the residential aged care calculation of a resident's cost of care. Once DVA finishes the means test assessment, DVA passes the information to Services Australia. Services Australia then completes the aged care fee calculations and advises the fees.

MRCA Permanent Impairment payments, MRCA Special Rate Disability Pension and Disability Compensation Payment all stay out of the income side of the aged care means test. A War Widow(er)'s Pension counts as income unless the recipient holds qualifying service in their own right, in which case it is exempt.

What happens if you cannot afford aged care?

A resident who cannot afford their aged care costs, for reasons beyond their control, can apply for financial hardship assistance. Each case is assessed individually. Where a person qualifies, the Australian Government pays some or all of their contributions, fees and accommodation. DVA points its clients to the same avenue for permanent residential aged care costs.

Eligibility to apply also turns on assets and on gifting. The applicant must hold assets worth no more than $46,835.10, leaving unrealisable assets out of the count. My Aged Care describes that figure as 1.5 times the basic annual Age Pension with supplements, and states no effective date for it. Gifts above $10,000 within the current financial year, or within any of the four financial years before it, rule an applicant out. So do gifts above $30,000 across those five financial years combined.

Financial hardship assistance has a boundary worth knowing before a family relies on it. The assistance does not cover extra and additional service fees. The higher everyday living fee is also excluded. Both charges stay with the resident.

How the Age Pension fits with aged care fees

The Age Pension sets the size of the basic daily fee and is assessed under its own separate test. The pension assets test and the aged care means assessment do not count the same assets. A refundable accommodation deposit or contribution paid to an aged care home is left out of a pension assessment. The same deposit is counted as an asset in the means assessment used to calculate aged care costs. There it can affect the hotelling contribution, the non-clinical care contribution and the means tested care fee.

Services Australia applies an assets test to the Age Pension itself. A single homeowner can hold up to $333,000 in assets and still draw the full Age Pension, and a single non-homeowner up to $600,000. Services Australia last updated the page carrying those limits on 1 July 2026, and the Department of Social Services reviews the limits each March, July and September. Above those levels the pension reduces. From 1 July 2026, a single homeowner's part pension cancels once assets pass $733,500, and a single non-homeowner's once assets pass $1,000,500.

Finding an aged care home as a veteran

Entry to a Commonwealth-subsidised aged care home starts with an assessment. DVA directs a veteran to phone My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 and book the free Aged Care Assessment Team appointment.

Veteran status does not move a person up a queue. DVA notes that the number of places in an aged care home can be limited, which puts access down to assessed need and bed availability. The Australian Government funds no aged care home exclusively for veterans. Some homes do carry recognition for specialised care aimed at the veteran community. My Aged Care also verifies some providers in its Find a provider tool as delivering care and services matched to the specific needs of particular backgrounds and life experiences, the veteran community among them.

The set a veteran is choosing from is large. The Elderberry directory lists 224,493 places across 2,590 aged care homes run by 708 providers, pulled August 2026.

Common questions

How much is the full Centrelink Age Pension in 2026?

The maximum single rate of Age Pension is $1,200.90 a fortnight before tax. It is built from a maximum basic rate of $1,100.30, a maximum Pension Supplement of $86.50 and an Energy Supplement of $14.10. Services Australia last updated that rate page on 19 June 2026, and the Department of Social Services resets the rates each 20 March and 20 September.

Can you get My Aged Care services and DVA support at the same time?

Yes. A person already receiving DVA-funded services may still receive My Aged Care services, provided they are not drawing the same service from both departments. My Aged Care states that such a person may be able to keep using a Veteran Gold or White Card for allied health, assistive technology and healthcare.

Does a veteran have to complete an aged care means assessment?

No. A means test assessment is not compulsory for entry into residential aged care. A veteran who chooses not to have one completed may be asked to pay means tested fees at the maximum. The assessment is what sets a resident's contribution against their own income and assets.

Does a veteran need to tell DVA about moving into an aged care home?

Yes. A veteran needs to tell DVA within 14 days about changes to their residential circumstances. The window stretches to 28 days for a veteran living overseas or receiving remote area allowance. Those changes matter because they might affect the rate of the veteran's pension.

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