THE cost of living crisis has affected most Australians but those on an old age pension and with limited income, the crunch is more keenly felt.
A survey by National Seniors of 6,500 older people found that cost of living was the most important issue, followed by private health and primary health care.
Groceries, household energy and insurance were their top three concerns.
“Consumers everywhere are feeling the pinch but for many older Australians, being able to afford basic essentials is increasingly difficult and comes at the expense of other items,” National Seniors CEO Chris Grice said.
“The government must take this crisis seriously and address cost of living pressures in ways that do not exacerbate inflation.
“We applaud moves to look at grocery prices but the conduct of supermarkets is one part of the solution.
“The Government must also directly help people meet rising living costs.
“Energy costs, whether it’s the price of petrol or diesel or the cost of electricity or gas, are a consistent problem, and one that feeds inflation by increasing the cost of making and transporting everyday goods and services.
“Every time fuel prices rise, that has a direct impact on the cost of groceries, given the large distances needed to transport produce and other products to supermarket shelves.
“Older renters, many on low fixed incomes, need further relief as rents continue to rise above inflation, making it harder to put a roof over their head.”
Being forced to drop private health insurance to meet the cost of essential goods and services adds pressure to the public health system at a cost to the federal budget.
“Government also needs to be conscious that policy decisions may impact negatively on some older people and their incomes,” he said.
“Lifting the two year freeze on deeming rates in July, for example, could see hundreds of thousands of pensioners lose income at a time their belts are already tight.”
He said much of the commentary on older people painted a picture of them living well off rising inflation, but pressures from rising private health insurance costs, out of pocket health costs, insurance, fuel and groceries were eroding most of those gains.
