Delays in a long-awaited policy designed to stop Australians in home care being overcharged are being blamed on economic shocks from the Iran war.
The federal government had intended to introduce price caps for home care services from July, but has put the move on ice for fear of baking in "volatile" cost increases from the economic turmoil caused by conflict in the Middle East.
"We've seen in some other programs, the NDIS is one example, that if you set the price cap a little bit too high, everyone moves up to the price cap," Health Minister Mark Butler told reporters in Newcastle on Tuesday.
"That's not just bad for the budget, more importantly that's bad for recipients of care as well."
