Senior officials within Australia’s Department of Health were caught off guard just before the launch of a new algorithm designed to determine funding for older Australians. The tool, intended to assess how much government-funded support individuals should receive, was found to have a critical flaw: it could not be legally overridden by human assessors, despite previous assurances that such a function would be available. Emails obtained through a freedom of information request reveal that this legal inconsistency was discovered at the last minute, prompting an urgent meeting with the aged care and health ministers just three days before the algorithm was set to go live. The issue arose from the Aged Care Rules 2025, which had been drafted in a way that left no legal room for assessors to override the algorithm’s decisions. Despite earlier statements by the department that assessors would have the power to challenge the algorithm’s recommendations, the new rules effectively removed that possibility. In an email sent on 29 October, three days before the rollout, officials warned that the sudden change in guidance might not be fully communicated to assessors, potentially causing confusion and misuse of the tool. The algorithm is part of the Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT), which involves an assessor gathering information about an individual’s health and living conditions before the tool generates a funding recommendation. Once the algorithm produces a result, the assessor is unable to change it, even if they believe the person is being under-supported. This has led to growing concerns among assessors, who feel ethically conflicted about approving assessments they believe are incorrect. Some have raised fears about the legal implications of following the algorithm’s recommendations against their professional judgment. In the days following the rollout, complaints flooded in from assessors who claimed the algorithm was frequently underestimating the needs of vulnerable older Australians. Internal documents show that state officials were tracking hundreds of such cases and sharing them with federal authorities. In response, the department reportedly implemented a temporary workaround, allowing the system to retain the previous funding level while recording a lower classification in the client’s permanent file. Meanwhile, the opposition has accused the government of blocking legislation that would restore human oversight to the process, calling it a necessary but insufficient step toward fixing a "broken" aged care system.