Slack Investor vs Centrelink – My Application for a Commonwealth Seniors’ Health Card (CSHC)

Slack Investor likes the quiet life, and doesn’t usually go looking for trouble, but a recent birthday put me at 67 – this is the age threshold for the Australian Aged Pension. Other than feeling old, this is not too much of a concern as I am a happy self-funded retiree.

However, in a generous flourish, the previous government made it much easier for self-funded retirees to qualify for the Commonwealth Seniors’ Health Card (CSHC). This card provides savings on some Pharmacy costs and gives easier access to higher rates of reimbursement for out of pocket expenses (Medicare Safety Net). Some GP’s will offer bulk-billing to CSHC holders as they can get a higher Medicare fee for these consultations. So, this card looks worth the effort if you qualify and, looking at the new numbers, most retirees not on the pension, would.

Do you qualify?

Age pension age and an Australian citizen? The critical test is your income … and not just any income … but your “Adjusted income”.

To meet the income test, your “Adjusted Income” must be less than the following:

• $95,400 a year if you’re single
• $152,640 a year for couples
• $190,800 a year for couples separated by illness, respite care or prison.

These values are valid for 2024 and they get inflation adjusted each year

For Slack Investor, it was a matter of gathering scans of our most recent ATO Notice of Assessment for my partner and myself. Plus contacting my Super Provider to send me an income schedule for each of my Pension accounts – These are known as form SA 330 and are often requested for dealing with Centrelink, DVA, etc.

As we do not own an investment property, the only inputs to our Adjusted Income were our taxable incomes and deemed income from our account based pensions.

Any money in our accumulation accounts or bank accounts was not considered in our deemed “Adjustable Income” as a couple.

Noel Whittaker provides a handy calculator to work out your total deemed income from your pension assets (Currently about 2% of assets). I stress it is not the actual income from these pensions that is relevant – but the deemed income! The asset amounts of our pensions (Estimated for the application date – from your super fund or SMSF) were put into Noel’s Calculator. As the total of our deemed pension income plus our taxable incomes was under the $152,640 a year for couples, we proceeded with the application online through MyGov/Centrelink/Make a Claim or Review Claim Status. This is where the fun begins.

Handy Tips

Before applying, get some identification documents ready and your latest ATO Notice of Assessment (in pdf form). Make sure you have a MyGov account and have Centrelink linked to it. I used the online form to apply, and it was frustrating at times, but generally OK. Others have downloaded the form, filled it out and taken it to Centrelink for checking.

• Contact your Super Funds for a SA 330 schedule that will give you relevant details of any Account-Based Pension that you own for the last tax year.
• If you have a SMSF, contact your provider and they will furnish you with information on each of your pension funds. You will then have to download and fill out your own SA 330, as a trustee, for each of your income streams.
• At one of the forms sticking points, I found the video on the application process by Brendan Ryan of Later Life Advice very useful – worth a watch for a 22 minute overview of this process (the video is found in the top left third of the page).

I must warn that this application is not for the feint-hearted – But do not give up! If you are having trouble, book an appointment with Centrelink – They will also check your documents if you are not sure.

The complexities of dealing with Centrelink and the CSHC have been entertainingly documented in the SMH and YourLifeChoices. There were several points where I was having what my mother would describe as “Sailor’s Talk” with my computer.

For all the frustration and “dead ends” encountered during the application process, I found a strategy of “Walk away – and try again another day” did the trick. Although, I will not find out about whether my application will be successful till July 2024, I did learn something useful along the way … How to Edit pdf forms – which came in handy as SMSF trustees have to populate several SA 330 forms with mostly the same data.

Using Google Chrome to fill out PDF forms

I don’t have any form-filling PDF software (e.g. Adobe Acrobat full version) and I am reluctant to install the “free” clients that usually come with some adware or a trial period. I was delighted to find out that this form-filling task can be done in my Chrome browser without installing anything extra. Locate the PDF you want to edit in File Browser.

Right-Click the file to open up the context menu – Scroll down to “Open with” a new dialogue box will open showing Google Chrome if you have it. Select “Google Chrome”.

The form will then open as a Chrome Tab and you can edit away then save or print your changes (Download and Print Symbol at top right of the Chrome tab).