| Publication: | The Australian |
|---|---|
| Date: | 13 May 2009 |
| Section: | Health |
Adam Cresswell, Health editor
Article excerpt:
ONE in 10 Australian adults will be hit by Labor's reforms to private health insurance, but the Government maintains its stance that only a fraction - 0.3 per cent - will drop their cover in response to losing all or part of their 30 per cent rebate. Treasury officials claim the dropout rate will be equivalent to 25,000 people - many of whom will also face being slugged with a higher Medicare levy surcharge, under the other part of the Government's two-pronged strategy to rein in the rebate's $3.6 billion annual cost.
As revealed in The Australian last week, the Government will progressively scale back the proportion of private health premiums covered by the rebate in line with rising income.
... The health funds' peak body, the Australian Health Insurance Association, has already decried the scaling-back of the rebate for higher income earners as a broken promise that would affect every other health fund member by pushing up premiums across the board.
