Private Health Insurance

Taking out health insurance is basically a gamble. You’re putting your coins in the slot every week or month, hoping it’ll be worth your while in the end.

Be grateful we haven’t got to this point

There are no flashing lights, and there’s a good chance your investment will only pay off if something goes seriously wrong. 

The same principle applies for home and contents, income insurance, pet insurance, and all the other types of insurance daytime television pushes with sincerely concerned smiles and emotion-laden arguments. You might die and leave your family impoverished. So give us your money instead.

Continue reading "Running for cover in the health insurance debate" »

There are a number of clear arguments the Government could rely on for means testing the Private Health Insurance Rebate. Health Minister Tanya Plibersek made some of them in Question Time yesterday afternoon.

“The total cost of this private health insurance rebate is about $5 billion a year, and if we do not make these modest changes, that leave around 20 million Australians unaffected, we will see the cost of this private health insurance rebate blow out by $100 billion over the next 40 years,” Plibersek told the House of Reps. That’s a good one.

Others include: Treasury estimates 99.7 per cent of people currently holding health insurance will keep it even if the 30 per cent rebate is means tested, a family would have to be on more than $250,000 a year before the rebate was fully withdrawn, and without this budget measure, worth $2.4 billion, hopes of a surplus are shot.

The Opposition questions the Treasury’s optimism about the impact of the measures, arguing more people will rely on the public system. All these points have been made, but they’ve been drowned out in the escalating class war being waged by both sides over a measure many reasonable voters would look at as a sound financial decision if they were given half the chance.

Continue reading "Rebate debate has descended into a shoddy class war" »

Bronwyn Bishop’s attack in yesterday’s Punch on the Government’s proposed means testing of the private health insurance rebate claims that people earning less than $50,000 will be the worst off. This is completely false.

People earning $50,000 or less will be among the 8 million health insurance policy holders that will not be affected by means testing at all. They won’t lose a dollar. Mrs Bishop should stop scaring pensioners.

Currently all families and individuals who pay private health insurance premiums are eligible for a rebate of at least 30 per cent on the cost of their insurance. It doesn’t matter how much you earn, you still receive the rebate. That money comes from the taxes of every working Australian. At the moment the same people that Bronwyn Bishop claims to care about are subsidising the rebate being paid to millionaires. They’re subsidising her private health insurance rebate and mine.

Continue reading "Counterpunch: Means testing is about fairness" »

Tanya Plibersek has flagged the re-introduction of legislation to means test the private health insurance rebate. This is Labor’s third try. It has been defeated twice.

Peter Slipper has voted twice against this legislation, presumably believing as does the rest of the Opposition, of which he was a part, that it is bad legislation for his constituents. Tony Windsor has voted against it twice and remained consistent but Rob Oakeshott only once. 

On the last vote he caved into Labor. This was interesting because Mr Oakeshott in his seat of Lyne has more people over 50 years, as well as over 60 years, than any other seat in Australia. 57,220 of his constituents are over 50, of which 38,481 are over 60. He has once voted to protect them and vote down the miserable means test but what will he be offered/threatened/cajoled by Gillard this time?

Continue reading "Labor’s mean-spirited attack on our most vulnerable" »

Our government has been trying to ensure that the generous rebate to millions of Australians who take out private health insurance remains in place, and remains sustainable into the future.

To do this, we’ve tried to introduce a means test that stops support for a family earning more than a quarter of a millions dollars - but retains it for nearly 8 million low and middle income Australians, with a scale down for those in between.

Our last changes were met with predictions from the Liberals and insurers that the sky would fall in and that millions would drop out of insurance.

Continue reading "Let’s debate the rebate with some nice healthy facts" »

This week in Parliament will be an important test of the Opposition’s commitment to both health reform and economic responsibility.

Right now we’re looking at making some of the biggest reforms to our health care system since the introduction of Medicare. 

We can’t do that unless we make the hard decisions. 

Continue reading "Coalition is being reckless on private health insurance" »

Make no mistake about it. The battle to preserve Australia’s mix of public and private health care will be joined in earnest this week.

At stake is a worsening of the shaky health of our public hospitals.

At stake also is a direct cost impact for almost half the population who have private health insurance and an indirect, or delayed, impact on those who rely on public hospitals for treatment.

Continue reading "The ALP simply hates private health insurance" »