NSA research shows low-income seniors are more likely to be severely impacted by rising living costs and that some older people have been prohibited from accessing health care due to cost. 

Older women, in particular, experience higher levels of financial hardship, having less superannuation and being more likely to be renters.

We also know, from our concessions campaign, older people value concessions as a practical way to help relieve cost-of-living pressures.

In response, National Seniors Australia has developed a new policy to enable governments to deliver additional support to pensioners facing poverty.

The policy calls on the federal government to issue a new Pensioner Concession Card+ to pensioners with limited means, to make it easier for all levels of government to target additional help where it is needed most.

PCC+ holders would receive all the same benefits available from a standard Pensioner Concession Card but could also receive additional benefits, e.g., higher concession rates, assistance to access dental, cheaper medicines or health care rebates.

Because a person’s income and assets are already used to determine the amount of pension they receive, this same information could be used by Centrelink to determine eligibility for a PCC+.

With pension poverty estimated to be 23.7 per cent in Australia (OECD 2018), government could give more assistance at low cost, helping to reduce pension poverty. The card would help those experiencing poverty when they reach pension age and also older pensioners when they have use up their savings at the end of their life.