Article excerpt:

NOBODY likes a price hike, but the government is pinning its pitch for the means-testing of the private health insurance rebate on a simple appeal for social justice.

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon is leading the charge, asking why should "secretaries and nurses fund the private health insurance of millionaires?"

... The highest of the three income bands that will determine the level of health insurance rebate will catch 7 per cent of those privately insured -- 690,000 people earning more than $120,000 a year (singles) or $240,000 (couples).

...What the rhetoric conceals is that means-testing the rebate is expensive -- $69 million over five years. It would have been cheaper to keep the rebate non-means-tested and deliver preferential benefits to the less well-off by adjusting the income tax scales.

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