‍DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL HEALTH

SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

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TOPICS: Labor’s tax grab from Australians over 65, private health insurance rebate, government modelling, ageing at home

Kenny  

Let's head back down to Canberra. I want to catch up with Shadow Regional Health Minister Anne Webster. Anne, thanks for joining us. An issue I really want to get your thoughts on because I know it's a concern to a lot of Australians over 65, and that's those changes in the budget that Labor announced. It reduces the private health rebate for those over 65 who used to get a bit of extra help that's disappeared. What sort of concern have you picked up around the country, especially regional Australia, when it comes to those changes?

Webster  

Thanks, Chris. It's a massive issue. What we have is people who are over 65 have often been paying their private health insurance for decades, 30-40 years. It has been in place for some time that once they reach 65, that they would receive a rebate on that payment because the government - Coalition - thought it was a good idea that those people remain in private health, because if they drop their cover and they go into the public health system, then they are frequently denied a hip replacement, knee replacement, cataracts for a couple of years. It's just in their interest, and it's also in taxpayer interest that they stay in private health insurance. We have so many people around Australia who are deeply concerned about this and who are saying that they will not be able to continue to pay their health insurance because they're now pensioners or they're self-funded retirees on an ongoing low income to get them through, and they will have to stop it. Now, I've met today with National Seniors Australia, they say that the Treasury’s so-called modelling, and we know, you know the Labor Party has sought modelling in the past - maybe Reputex comes to mind, which is not worth the paper it was written on - but they say that the modelling says only 44,000 people will be impacted. Well, National Seniors Australia have done their surveys, they say the number will be closer to 400,000 older Australians who will reduce their cover, and potentially 270,000 Australians who will drop out of their cover altogether. This is not good for older Australians, and it is certainly not good for the public health system either.

Kenny  

Well, you're right. It just goes back onto the public health system, so it's a lose-lose. And the numbers are important, of course. If 400,000 people are affected, it makes it even more dramatic. But, no matter how many are affected, it's terrible for these people, as you say, on fixed incomes or largely fixed incomes, suffering from increased electricity prices and the cost of living, and these changes I was reading could add between 400 to $1,000 a year to their insurance costs. It's not a small number.

Webster  

No, it's not, and the numbers that we've been provided are closer to $800 for an individual and over $1,600 for a couple, so it is a huge impost on people who are struggling to pay their energy bills. Thank you Labor, and struggling to pay for their groceries and their fuel and now their health, which is critical for them to be able to stay at home. Now, Labor have said that this is also that they can purchase another 5,000 residential aged care beds. The fact is, people want to remain at home. If they can't get primary healthcare, if they can't get you know the cataracts done, the knee surgery, whatever done to help them stay home, and if they can't access support at home, then they will be needing those residential aged care beds, which are far more expensive. Like Labor's logic on this is absolutely hard to fathom.

Kenny  

Thanks for joining us, Anne. I appreciate it. It's an issue I wanted to make sure we got to because it affects a lot of people, and we haven't covered it much on this program so far.

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