Aged care overseas or at home? Australian aged care costs and wait times in 2026

Can I get Australian aged care if I live overseas?

Not while you’re overseas. My Aged Care describes the Australian Government-funded aged care homes and help at home that are delivered across Australia. We found nothing on the official sites that pays for care in another country.

Your Age Pension can keep paying overseas, as our guide to taking your Age Pension overseas explains, so it can go toward care there, but any care you arrange overseas is private and you pay for it yourself. We haven’t checked what care costs in other countries.

If you live overseas, it helps to know how the Australian system works before you need it, and how you’d get home to use it. Our guide to returning to Australia covers your pension and Medicare when you move back.

How do I get aged care in Australia?

You start with an assessment. My Aged Care says you can apply online (you need your Medicare card, and it takes 10 to 15 minutes), by phone on 1800 200 422, or in person by booking with an Aged Care Specialist Officer on 1800 227 475. The assessment usually happens in your home, though it can be done elsewhere, by telehealth or by phone.

My Aged Care says that to live in a government-funded aged care home you must be 65 or over (50 or over for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, or people who are homeless or at risk of it), and be assessed as eligible. Your money doesn’t affect whether you’re eligible, only what you pay. Our page on retiring overseas at 75 and over covers the wider planning.

What changed in aged care in 2025 and 2026?

Both the way you get help at home and the fees for aged care homes have changed. These are the main changes so far:

Date	Change
November 2025	The Support at Home program replaced Home Care Packages and Short-term Restorative Care.
1 November 2025	New fee arrangements for people entering an aged care home.
1 October 2026	Personal care under Support at Home became fully funded, if it is approved in your support plan.

Personal care at home has been free of contributions since 1 October 2026. My Aged Care says that if personal care is approved in your Support at Home plan, you now get it at no out-of-pocket cost. If you looked at home care costs before October 2026, check again.

How long is the wait for aged care at home?

It depends on your priority category. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing says the target for urgent cases is within 1 month, with waits for other categories set relative to the high priority wait.

The Weekly SOURCE, an aged care trade publication, reported the wait times below from the department’s evidence to a Senate inquiry on 22 September 2026. They’re as at 30 June 2026, and they’re reported figures, not My Aged Care’s own estimates.

Priority category	Reported wait for funding at 30 June 2026
Urgent	Within 1 month
High	About 1 month
Medium	5 to 6 months
Standard	7 to 8 months

The same report said 106,977 people were waiting for an ongoing Support at Home place at 30 June. Another 53,718 were getting interim funding at 31 March while they waited for their full allocation. The department told the inquiry it was on track for the government’s target of an average 3-month wait by 1 November 2027.

Your priority is scored during the assessment. Living alone, an assessed cognitive impairment, homelessness, a long wait in a remote area and needing urgent services all add points.

How much does it cost to go into an aged care home in Australia?

It depends on your income and assets, and on the home and the room. These are the main parts for people on the 1 November 2025 fee arrangements, as My Aged Care published them in October 2026.

Fee	What it is	Amount
Basic daily fee	Paid by every resident, for meals, cleaning, laundry and utilities	Up to $68.93 a day ($25,159.45 a year)
Hotelling contribution	Means tested, toward daily living services	Up to $22.15 a day
Non-clinical care contribution	Means tested, toward personal care such as bathing	Capped at $109.45 a day, and at $140,652.80 or 4 years over your lifetime
Accommodation	The room price you agree with the home	Paid as a refundable lump sum, daily payments or both
Higher everyday living fee	Optional extras, agreed only after you move in	Set by the home

The government pays your full accommodation costs if your income is below $36,454.60 and your assets are below $66,500. Under the new arrangements the government fully funds clinical care. What you pay is set by a means assessment from Services Australia, and My Aged Care has a fee estimator.

How does the cost compare with the Age Pension?

An example, not real people. Joan is 82, single, on the maximum Age Pension, with few assets. She has lived in Hua Hin for 8 years, her health is failing, and her son is weighing up care in Australia (the situation our page on helping a parent is written for).

A fortnight	Amount
Joan’s Age Pension once back in Australia, at most	$1,237.70
Basic daily fee, 14 days at $68.93	$965.02
Left after the basic daily fee	$272.68

My Aged Care says the basic daily fee is set at 85% of the single basic Age Pension. Joan’s means assessment would decide whether she pays anything more. Before any of this she’d need to be back in Australia and assessed, and she may have to wait for a place. Because she has lived overseas for more than 5 years, she’d also need to re-enrol in Medicare first: Smartraveller says a citizen can only use Medicare in Australia for up to 5 years after moving overseas, and the online aged care application asks for a Medicare card.

What should my family and I ask?

My Aged Care suggests getting independent financial advice before entering an aged care home. These are questions you could take to an aged care financial adviser, or ask My Aged Care:

1. How long is the wait for an assessment where I will live, and how is my priority worked out?
2. What would my means assessment look like, with my home and other assets?
3. Which room payment option suits my situation, and what happens to a lump sum if I move or die?
4. What changes if I sell, keep or rent out my home?
5. What can we arrange privately while we wait for funding?

What this means for you depends on

• Where you live when you need care, and how quickly you could come home.
• Your health, and whether you need help at home or a place in a home.
• Your income and assets, including your home.
• Whether you live alone, and other things that change your priority.
• Whether family in Australia can help while you wait.

This is general information. For your own situation, talk to My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 and a licensed financial adviser who specialises in aged care. If you’re still working out where to start, book a free planning session on Zoom and we’ll point you the right way.