October 2026

More than 6,400 elderly Australians died in the past financial year while waiting for aged care funding that had already been approved.

That’s an average of 17 deaths every day. And it’s an increase of 33% on the previous year.

It’s another disturbing revelation about Australia’s aged care system, which we have previously highlighted as a classic example of bureaucracy becoming more important than the people it supposedly serves.

This should not be happening in Australia, particularly with a Prime Minister who was scathing about government performance in this area when he was in Opposition and campaigned stridently about this issue.

When in Opposition, Anthony Albanese said it was “extraordinary” that older Australians could be approved for aged care and then die waiting to receive it.

While campaigning for election, he declared: “We will look after our older Australians. No one held back and no one left behind.”

Yet older Australians are dying while waiting for the home care they’ve already been approved for. According to an article published by the National News Network on 9 October 2026, Federal Health Department figures reveal that 6,436 older Australians died during FY2026 while waiting for their approved Support at Home funding.

The previous year’s figure was 4,812, although changes to the system mean the numbers aren’t directly comparable.

Behind these figures are thousands of individuals and families who were entitled to expect better.

One was former Melbourne schoolteacher John Wilson, aged 91, who died before receiving the funding for which he had been approved.

Days after his funeral, his family received a letter congratulating him on his aged care funding becoming available.

You couldn’t invent a more disturbing example of bureaucratic absurdity.

His daughter, Lynne Meehan, described the treatment of her father as a national disgrace.

And it’s difficult to disagree.

This follows our report in August 2026 about the scandal surrounding the Federal Government’s aged care funding algorithm, exposed by the ABC’s Four Corners program.

That investigation revealed a deeply flawed assessment system in which an algorithm determined funding allocations, without clinicians having the power to override its decisions.

We highlighted the extraordinary complexity of the process, involving hundreds of questions, while experienced professionals were prevented from exercising their judgement.

Our conclusion was simple: technology should assist human judgement, not replace it.

Now we have another disturbing illustration of a system struggling to deliver timely care.

The latest figures also reveal that more than 106,000 Australians were waiting for ongoing home care funding at the end of June 2026.

Meanwhile, aged care provider organisation Ageing Australia revealed on 8 October that Federal aged care spending had fallen $1.4 billion below budget.

Think about that.

Thousands dying while waiting for funding, more than 100,000 people in the queue, and $1.4 billion of budgeted money unspent.

Aged Care Minister Sam Rae, which was exposed by the Four Corners as a politician lacking empathy and competence, says services have increased 26% and argues that the death rate among those waiting is lower than among elderly Australians generally.

The department also says mortality rates have remained relatively stable relative to the number of people in the system.

Those qualifications deserve acknowledgement – maybe. But they don’t explain away the lengthy delays or the distress experienced by families.

Nor should the problems be treated as exclusively the responsibility of the current Federal Government. Waiting-list deaths have occurred under successive administrations, with substantially higher rates recorded previously.

The fundamental issue is whether Australia’s aged care bureaucracy is delivering services quickly enough to people assessed as needing them.

Older Australians should not spend their final months negotiating administrative hurdles, waiting for funding decisions and becoming statistics in government reports.

And families should never receive letters congratulating loved ones on receiving care after they’ve died.

What is the point of an aged care system that approves people for assistance but fails to deliver it while they’re still alive?