Dr Monique Ryan, Independent Member for Kooyong, backs the growing concern among stakeholders, the Coalition, and the Greens, regarding the government’s planned cuts to the private health insurance rebate for over-65s. Dr Ryan has called on the Senate to join her campaign to ensure that this Bill does not pass in its current form.
The proposed changes will wind back the private hospital insurance rebate for Australians aged over 65, affecting about 3.2 million people. Health Department figures show that about two million of these people live on less than $37,000 a year. Parliamentary Budget Office analysis commissioned by Dr Ryan found that $1.6bn of the $3bn in savings the government forecasts by 2029-30 would come from age pensioners.
Dr Ryan said: “In the Senate inquiry report released yesterday, both the Coalition and Greens have recognised what stakeholders and the crossbench have been saying all along. This bill will leave older Australians worse off and put more pressure on public hospitals that are already at breaking point.
“If the government wants this Bill to pass, it must carve out and protect pensioners. I’ve already introduced an amendment to the House which would do this. Older Australians who have worked, saved, and planned to have the security of private health insurance in retirement shouldn’t be forced to give it up because the government has withdrawn longstanding support for that commitment.
“There’s no doubt our private health insurance system needs reform. Every year we pay more and get less. But penalising those least able to absorb cost increases will achieve nothing but a loss of faith in government among vulnerable older Australians, and shift the cost of their care from the federal government to the states.”
