At last I got a reply from Centrelink.Her Means Tested Care Fee on top of the Basic Rate of $47.15 a day is $114.09 a day. Why on earth don't they say $114.10 or $114.based on a fortnightly income of $2900.85. Well where they got that figure from I don't know. According to my calculations her fortnightly income is $1700. Granted,that before we paid the ingoing she was getting interest on that which of course is now going to Braemar so I reckon that is a gross overstatement. Had a chat to one of the administrators and have an appointment in a day or two and I acknowledge that they can not take out more than $25,000 per annum and no more than $50,000 per lifetime which I can cover although she also has a big tax bill to pay in March for tax owing in 2013 to 2014. Admittedly it all gets reconciled in the end and with luck the next year she will get a refund but the government does not make it easy.
Anyway it was like a red rag to a bull when that day Mum starts going on about the fact that I am keeping her short of money and insinuating that I was spending it on myself when she needed a new dress and new shoes. I bought her some new clothes for Christmas including a new pair of sandals. She has got one note and some small change in her purse . Notes she drops all over the place as she tries to count them up and change she offers inappropriately to the carers to let her out.
Money is an issue in dementia. She looked after her finances well until she was 99. She just about got the Power of Attorney in place before she lost it and wants to pay her own way as she has been used to all her life. I heard another resident say he wanted to pay the bill in the nursing home to be reassured by his daughter (its usually daughters ) that it was paid for. Anyway I did not have to visit today always a bonus day and its horrible to feel that but I do!
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