How to compare provider prices — and what counts as too high
Support at Home providers set their own prices — planned price caps were deferred in May 2026, with no new start date announced. In their place: the Aged Care Rules say the price a provider charges “must not be unreasonable” (section 273-15), the government announced in May 2026 that the regulator would be empowered to order refunds where overcharging is found, and government publishes the data you need to compare. Price matters twice over. Where you pay a contribution, it is a percentage of the price, so a higher price is a higher bill. And every service, including the ones with no contribution such as nursing and personal care, comes out of your budget at full price — so a higher price also means fewer hours before the quarter’s budget runs out. Comparison is not shopping around for its own sake, it is your main protection.
Know the benchmarks
These are the prices providers actually claimed for common services. The median is the middle price. A quarter of prices were below the lower figure and a quarter were above the upper figure, so the middle half of all prices sits between the two:
| Service | Lower quartile | Median | Upper quartile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal care (per hour) | $107.00 | $115.00 | $120.00 |
| Domestic assistance (per hour) | $100.00 | $110.00 | $117.00 |
| Social support, individual (per hour) | $105.00 | $111.00 | $120.00 |
| Flexible respite (per hour) | $105.00 | $115.00 | $121.00 |
| Nursing care, registered nurse (per hour) | $160.00 | $180.00 | $195.00 |
| Physiotherapy (per hour) | $143.00 | $194.00 | $224.00 |
| Occupational therapy (per hour) | $190.00 | $222.00 | $255.00 |
One honest note on these figures: they come from the department’s National Summary of Support at Home Prices on health.gov.au, which reports what providers charged in November and December 2025, the first two months of the program. That is the latest edition published, so prices will have moved since — including around 1 October 2026, when some providers proposed increases. We update this table when a new edition comes out. A price above the median is not automatically overcharging: travel, staff experience and regional delivery costs are real. The question is whether the provider can explain the difference.
Six questions that reveal more than the price list
- “Can I see your full price list?” A provider should produce it immediately — hesitation is itself an answer.
- “What does the hourly rate include?” Travel, equipment and supervision are sometimes inside the rate, sometimes billed on top. Two quotes can only be compared once you know what each covers.
- “What are your evening, weekend and public holiday rates?” A plan that needs Saturday showers should be costed at Saturday prices.
- “When did you last raise prices, and when is the next rise?” The government has said it is encouraging providers to limit price increases to no more than two per year, so frequent rises are worth questioning. And a price change is not something done to you: the department’s guidance is that providers cannot change prices without your informed consent.
- “Will you confirm each agreed price in writing before the service starts?” The agreed price is meant to be documented with you before a service begins or an item is bought. The department’s first payment integrity review, covering late 2025, found sufficient evidence of an agreed price for only 35% of the claims it checked (23% for equipment and home modifications). A provider who sends you the price in an email before the first visit is doing it properly.
- “Will you show contributions per line on the monthly statement?” Price transparency that stops at the quote is not transparency — see the statements guide.
If you believe you are being overcharged
Raise it with the provider first, in writing, and ask them to justify the price against the National Summary. If the answer does not hold up, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (1800 951 822) takes pricing complaints, and under the consumer protections announced in May 2026 it is to be empowered to order refunds where providers are found to be overcharging. OPAN’s free advocates (1800 700 600) can support you through either step. Two more things in your favour. You can ask for your service agreement to be reviewed at any time, and the department’s guidance is that your provider must comply with that request — so a price you no longer think is fair can be put back on the table. And you can change providers at any time, with your funding following you.
Turn a price list into a weekly cost — enter any provider’s prices and see what you’d actually pay.
Estimate the costsRelated: what Support at Home costs in 2026 · your provider owes you a statement every month