Types of care
Assisted living vs nursing home: which one?
Updated 24 August 2026
In Australia, aged care is the support given to older people, whether they need help in their own home or can no longer live there. The Department of Health and Aged Care publishes that definition, and the support it covers reaches from help delivered to someone still living independently through to residential aged care. Which setting fits a particular person is decided by how much help they need and whether that help has to be available at any hour. The Australian Government subsidises aged care homes to provide care 24 hours a day, with access to nursing services and general health care. Below that level sit two government-subsidised home programs, the Commonwealth Home Support Program and the Support at Home program, and one private option, the retirement village. Access to the government-subsidised options requires an aged care assessment, which determines whether a person is eligible for services and which program they are eligible for. A retirement village is not government subsidised.
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Four options cover the ground between managing unaided at home and needing care at any hour: the Commonwealth Home Support Program, the Support at Home program, a retirement village and an aged care home. The table sets all four against the same two attributes: who each option suits, and what it provides.
| Option | Who it suits | What it provides |
|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth Home Support Program | People who mostly manage on their own and need help with a few everyday tasks | Entry-level support such as cleaning, meals or transport, enough to keep living independently and safely at home |
| Support at Home | People who need regular or more complex help | Personal care, nursing support and help with daily activities, delivered at home |
| Retirement village | People who do not need aged-care-home levels of care | Private accommodation |
| Aged care home | People who can no longer live at home | Care 24 hours a day, with access to nursing services and general health care |
Support at Home was introduced in November 2025, as stated by My Aged Care at 23 August 2026. It replaced the Home Care Packages Program, and it also replaced the Short-term Restorative Care Programme.
What an aged care home provides
An aged care home must deliver an average amount of care time to residents across the home. That care time comes from a required staffing mix: registered nurses and enrolled nurses, plus personal care workers or assistants in nursing.
The services an aged care home provides fall into four groups:
- Complex clinical care. Aged care homes handle complex pain management, catheter and stoma care, wound management, and dialysis treatment.
- Allied health and therapy. Aged care homes provide services such as speech therapy, podiatry and physiotherapy.
- Specialised care for specific needs. Many aged care homes provide specialised care alongside clinical care, for specific needs such as dementia.
- Everyday support and safety. Aged care homes also run services supporting a resident's health, wellbeing, social life and safety.
The Elderberry directory lists 2,590 aged care homes across Australia as at August 2026. Every provider of government-funded aged care operates under the Aged Care Act 2024, the main law covering Australian Government-funded aged care.
How is aged care paid for in Australia?
How aged care is paid for depends on whether the support is government-subsidised or private. Under Support at Home, the participant contributes towards the cost of each service, based on the service delivered and what the participant can afford. Contributions are payable only on services actually received, and participants contribute nothing towards clinical support costs. From 1 October 2026, personal care services under Support at Home become fully government funded, so a person whose support plan approves the personal care service type can access that service at no out-of-pocket cost, as stated by My Aged Care at 23 August 2026.
The private route works on the opposite basis. A retirement village resident pays the full cost of the accommodation themselves. An aged care home sits between the two, funded partly by government subsidy and partly by resident fees, and the Elderberry directory lists 708 providers running Australia's aged care homes as at August 2026.
What an aged care home costs
Every resident of an aged care home pays the basic daily fee, whatever their means. Other fees depend on a means assessment and on the date the person moved in. My Aged Care publishes the current rates, which applied as at 23 August 2026, and the government indexes them on 20 March and 20 September each year.
The basic daily fee covers daily living services. The fee is 85% of what a single person receives as the basic age pension, which puts the maximum at $66.80 a day, or $24,382 per year, on the rates current at 23 August 2026.
Beyond the basic daily fee, the rules that apply depend on the entry date. Anyone who moved permanently into an aged care home by 31 October 2025 keeps their existing fees and accommodation costs while they stay in care. The no worse off rule holds those fees in place unless the resident opts in to the newer arrangements. People entering on or after 1 November 2025 fall under the newer fee arrangements.
Under the 1 November 2025 fee arrangements, as at 23 August 2026:
- Hotelling contribution. Some residents pay an extra contribution towards the cost of meals, cleaning and laundry, up to the hotelling supplement limit of $22.15 a day.
- Non-clinical care contribution. Some residents pay this contribution towards personal care: bathing, help with mobility, and lifestyle activities. It excludes clinical care and is capped at $107.32 a day.
- Lifetime cap on the non-clinical care contribution. The contribution stops once a resident has paid $137,917.01 (indexed) in total, or once 4 years of contributions have accumulated, whichever of the two arrives first. Contributions made under Support at Home count towards the same lifetime cap.
- Clinical care. Under these arrangements the government funds the whole cost of clinical care in an aged care home.
Under the earlier 1 July 2014 fee arrangements, a resident may pay a means tested care fee. The means tested care fee falls between $0 and $372.03 a day on the rates current at 23 August 2026. My Aged Care states that the fee is different for everyone and that some residents pay none of it. The fee is capped at $35,910.43 in a year. The lifetime cap on it is $86,185.23. Indexation changes both caps in March and September.
Accommodation is priced separately from care, and the Elderberry directory counts 224,493 places across Australian aged care homes as at August 2026. Everyone entering an aged care home agrees a room price in writing with the provider before entering care. That room price can be paid three ways. A refundable accommodation deposit is a lump sum the home refunds when the resident leaves. A retention amount can be deducted from that refund for some residents who entered care on or after 1 November 2025. A daily accommodation payment replaces the lump sum with a daily amount. The third option combines the two. For a resident whose income sits below $35,521.20 and whose assets sit below $64,500.00, on the rates current at 23 August 2026, the Australian Government pays the whole accommodation cost.
For most people the means assessment behind these fees is done by Services Australia, which then sends a fee advice letter setting out the fees the person can be asked to pay.
Where can a person with Parkinson's disease live?
A person with Parkinson's disease can be supported in their own home, in a retirement village or in an aged care home. Two conditions point the setting towards an aged care home. The first is a standing need for clinical services such as wound management, dialysis or complex pain management, which aged care homes provide. The second is a need for care at any hour, which is what the Australian Government subsidises aged care homes to deliver.
No single setting is best for every person with Parkinson's disease, because the answer depends on whether those two conditions are met. The workable rule is to take the least intensive setting that still covers what an aged care assessment identifies.
Respite care supports the person and their carer for short periods, and it can be provided at home, in the community or in an aged care home. The government subsidises up to 63 days of residential respite in each financial year, covering both planned and emergency stays, and an assessor can approve extensions of 21 days at a time, as stated by My Aged Care at 23 August 2026. A respite resident receives the same care and support services that permanent residents of the home receive, which makes a respite stay a trial of a particular home before any permanent move.
Common questions
What are people with Parkinson's disease entitled to in Australia?
Entitlement for a person with Parkinson's disease runs through the aged care eligibility rules. Eligibility is based on age, needs and situation. A person may be eligible for government-funded aged care if they have care needs and are aged 65 years or over, as stated by My Aged Care and the Department of Health and Aged Care at 23 August 2026. The minimum age drops to 50 years for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The Aged Care Act 2024 also includes a Statement of Rights that providers must act consistently with.
What benefits can you claim if you have Parkinson's in Australia?
Two Services Australia payments turn on how a condition affects work and care: the Disability Support Pension and Carer Payment. The Disability Support Pension is financial help where a physical, intellectual or psychiatric condition stops a person working and is expected to last more than 2 years. Services Australia states that a disability or medical condition alone does not qualify a person, because medical and non-medical rules both apply. Carer Payment goes to someone giving constant care to a person with a disability or medical condition, or to an adult who is frail aged. The person being cared for needs care for at least 6 months. Both Services Australia pages were last updated on 4 May 2026.
How long does it take to start an aged care assessment?
An assessment organisation calls within 2 to 6 weeks of the application being submitted, as stated by My Aged Care at 23 August 2026. A face-to-face assessment follows that call. The assessment result determines eligibility for government-subsidised services and which program applies.
What if the person needing care is under 65?
Aged care services already started before 1 November 2025 continue for a person below the minimum age of 65 years, as stated by the Department of Health and Aged Care at 23 August 2026. A person who has not started those services and does not qualify on the lower 50-year threshold may be eligible for the Disability Support Pension instead, which Services Australia assesses against medical and non-medical rules.
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