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PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE HIKE A SLUG TO ALL AUSTRALIANS Reports that patients will be up for another 7% hike in their private health insurance premiums soon is only half the story. Every increase in these premiums is financed 30% by the private health insurance rebate. That means taxes pay 30% of the increase. That means $200 million less tax revenue available to the Federal Government to spend on the public system. Our patients are struggling to find the $10 copayment to see their GP as bulk billing rates fall, they wait in trolleys in emergency departments for hours and days, they wait weeks and months for major operations as the cash strapped public system struggles to cope. The private health insurance rebate was meant to result in downward pressure on premiums, and to deliver shorter waiting lists. It has failed on both counts. And $ 2.5 billion in taxes is being spent per year on the private health industry and is therefore not available to be spent on improving and maintaining an efficient public health system available to everyone. But to abandon the rebate and spend all that money on the public health system would be fair and economically rational. Is that too much to ask?
Dr Tim Woodruff |
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Doctors Reform Society of Australia home page] |