The graph above shows the percentage of people aged 80+ living in Long Term Care, meaning nursing homes. Australia sets the record across the western world for the most occupants.
But not for long, because we are not building the new beds required for the Baby Boomers, who are going to break the system, starting in 2029.
For the past 50 years the Australian aged care support system has been one of the most generous in the world. If you need care in the home or you need a nursing home bed, it has been available for you, almost no questions asked.
But the total aged care cost to taxpayers in 2026 is approximately $45 billion.
The cost of a bed in an aged care home is $426 a day or $155,000 for twelve months.
Nursing homes cost the country $28 billion a year.
But Baby Boomers will cost too much
This generosity is about to end because there are 75% more Baby Boomers than the previous generation. When all the soldiers returned to Australia in 1945, they started producing kids in far bigger numbers and the first of those kids turn 84 in 2029.
84 is the average age that people leave their family home and move into a nursing home (or residential aged care).
If the baby boomers deliver another 75% extra demand for aged care beds, this will add another $21 billion a year in costs – which the government doesn’t have the cash unless it raises taxes. And the people who will be paying those taxes will be people of a working age, dominated by young families.
It will be very unpopular to have young families funding aged care for asset rich Baby Boomers.
What does this all mean? First up, in simple terms, the government is not funding new beds being built. The government want us to age at home instead.
This is going to be really hard if you have poor health, especially poor strength. We all need strength to simply move around the house safely, and to do things like the cleaning and shopping. Isolation, loneliness – and fear – become real.
At Monday Club we call this ‘bad ageing’.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Common sense says simply investing a little time in safe strength building at Monday Club can give you many years of good ageing.
Don’t wait until it is too late.
Our Monday Club message:
Invest now in your wellness and strength so that you don’t need aged care. It will be the best investment you will ever make.
