The aged care accountants say the fee should be floated so its value can change in response to consumers ability to pay and any market conditions that might create competition or price tension.
StewartBrown Director Patrick Reid is backing his argument by pointing to the gap between a clients living expenses and the daily care fee, which has doubled from $16.10 in 2007 to $32.12 in 2017.
Mr Reid says this highlights the increasing proportion of ACFI income that is going toward residents everyday living expenses, including administration and support services, rather than their direct care costs.
The basic daily fee goes towards day-to-day living costs such as meals, cleaning, laundry, heating and cooling. The maximum basic daily fee is fixed at 85% of the single person rate of the basic Age Pension and indexed twice a year in March and September. Its currently sitting at $48.44 per day.
At the same time, prices for utilities grew on average by 72% for electricity and 54% for gas in the 10 years to June 2013.
Mr Reid, who has just joined the board of directors at NSW-based community provider IRT Group, maintains floating the fee may reduce the effect of shocks to the sector, such as the ACFI changes, and business cycles, like deregulation.
