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PDF SOUTH-west residents will not only be hit by higher costs of private health insurance, quality of patient care is also at risk of dropping, due to the Federal Government’s decision to means test the private health insurance rebate.
It could also see fewer surgeons practising in rural areas, having a detrimental effect on country patients regardless of their insurance status.
The Government secured the numbers to means test the rebate and increase the Medicare levy surcharge for higher-income earners without private cover, after a deal with the Australian Greens.
The means test will be phased in for singles earning more than $83,000 and for couples earning more than $166,000.
It will cut out completely from $129,000 for singles and $258,000 for couples.
The Government said the measure would save taxpayers $2.4 billion over the next three years.
However some experts say changes to the rebate will lead to people abandoning private health insurance and reports suggest that younger and healthier people are likely to downgrade their cover, leaving the ‘less healthy’ over-represented in the pool of privately insured.
The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons believes this will place upward pressure on premiums and the “already over-stretched public hospitals”.
Full report in today’s Spectator.
