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Support for loan system for aged care

22 Sep 2020

Q. The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Assurance is investigating the current funding system for residential support and aged care. One suggestion for improvement is to introduce a loan scheme to pay for a person’s care in retirement. The personal loan is paid off using the person’s assets only after they die, with any outstanding loan amount covered by the government.

To what extent would you support or oppose this loan system for aged care if it were introduced?

  Total Gender Age Group Federal Voting Intention
  Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+ Labor Liberal + National Greens TOTAL: Other
Strongly oppose 12% 12% 12% 7% 12% 17% 10% 9% 18% 23%
Somewhat oppose 18% 20% 16% 19% 18% 18% 22% 17% 22% 16%
Somewhat support 37% 40% 34% 43% 35% 33% 39% 41% 32% 27%
Strongly support 11% 13% 10% 13% 13% 8% 10% 16% 9% 5%
Unsure 22% 15% 28% 18% 23% 24% 19% 16% 19% 30%
TOTAL: Oppose 30% 32% 29% 25% 29% 35% 32% 27% 41% 38%
TOTAL: Support 48% 53% 44% 56% 47% 41% 49% 57% 41% 32%
Base (n) 1,081 539 542 338 374 369 298 460 115 104
  • Just under half of people (48%) say they would support (somewhat/strongly) a change of funding for aged care to a loan-style system. Under a third opposed the idea (30%) and a further fifth (22%) were unsure.
  • Younger people aged 18-34 were more supportive of the suggestion than those aged over 55 (56% to 41%). There was high support among Coalition voters (57%).
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