Private Health Insurance Amendment (Modernising the Private Health Insurance Rebate) Bill 2026

Mr BATT (Hinkler—Deputy Nationals Whip) (17:07): I rise to speak in opposition to the Private Health Insurance Amendment (Modernising the Private Health Insurance Rebate) Bill 2026. My electorate of Hinkler has the second-highest percentage of people aged over 65 in the country. That's a total of more than 44,000 people over 65 just in Hinkler.

Each and every one of those 44,000 deserves better. It's estimated 26,300 of these seniors have taken out private health cover. This group was already struggling with the escalating costs of just surviving, let alone of living—even before the budget of broken promises.

And now it's gone from bad to worse. Labor's $11 billion tax on older Australians' private health insurance will result in excessive pressure on our already crowded public hospitals. These people who pay their private health cover will be forced to either downgrade their insurance or to drop their insurance altogether.

The so-called consultation—after Labor announced these changes in the May budget—is revealing more and more opposition. The pressure points are staggering. Who's opposed to this attack on over-65s?

Private Healthcare Australia is opposed; Members Health Fund Alliance, opposed; National Seniors Australia, opposed; the Australian Medical Association, opposed; and the Australian Private Hospitals Association, opposed. Add to that list Medibank, HCF and Bupa. All have jointly warned that the change will fall hardest on poorer retirees and older Australians in the regions and that a shrinking pool will push premiums higher for everyone who remains.

This devastating policy could close our private hospitals. Submissions to the Senate's inquiry surrounding the rebate cuts reveal the policy will hurt our regional communities and not just our seniors, as this policy will affect all generations. Here's an example.

Experts warn an exodus of older Australians from gold cover will push up premiums for the younger families left behind who need gold cover for maternity services. And 3.2 million older Australians will then be pushed sooner into the aged-care system—a system that is already broken. This cruel move against our over-65s, who have worked hard and paid taxes for decades, is a disgrace.

The more the policy is examined, the worse it looks. Labor sold it as a fairness between generations, but the fine print shows it will hurt regional hospitals, young families and older Australians alike. Catholic Health Australia, which represents around 30 per cent of the country's private hospitals, warns the cut will strip revenue from regional private hospitals that serve the oldest communities and those that have no alternative provider.

When regional cities lose a private hospital, it's not easy to get it back. The people of Hinkler, and all regional Australians for that matter, need more investment in their health care not another reckless policy that will leave families across the country worse off. Only Labor could design a health tax on older Australians that, at best, also pushes up the cost for anyone having a baby and, at worst, will lead to the end of private maternity services across the country.

This isn't intergenerational fairness; everyone is worse off. The fact is, this Labor government has failed, and is failing, our older Australians, and with an $11 billion tax grab on private health insurance, they are pushing our health system under further stress. The Australian Private Hospitals Association put it simply as 'a disaster in waiting'.

It's estimates show that slashing the rebate will see a couple aged 70 pay $1,614 more next year for their cover. They say, and the coalition agrees, that public policy in a vacuum rarely ends well, yet something that looks to affect 3.2 million older Australians has reached parliament without any consultation with anyone. Keeping older Aussies in private health insurance saves the public system from collapse, yet this change is a half-baked cash grab that sends the entire health system into a downward spiral.

In 2024-25, those aged 65 and older accounted for more than 2.5 million private hospital admissions. It's not rocket science that any portion of that case load shifting to public hospitals can only make public emergency departments dysfunctional with bed block, waiting lists and taxpayer costs even worse than they are now. The government has a bizarre assumption that only 44,000 seniors will cancel their health insurance entirely as a result of these changes.

Yet, that's how many over-65s I have in my electorate of Hinkler alone. It's one thing to scrap your health insurance because it becomes unaffordable, but even downgrading is a major issue. The Australian Private Hospitals Association says it's the most likely response for those looking to manage the looming surge in their premiums.

The government's impact analysis acknowledges the risk but does not bother modelling what it means for patients or the hospital system. If you're over 65 and you downgrade, will the removal of cataracts still be covered? What about joint replacements?

Mental health care? The work hasn't been done. The scrapping of the private health insurance rebate for Australians aged 65 and over is built on zero consultation, untested assumptions, incomplete modelling and an impact analysis that overlooks the policy's most significant consequences.

That's why the coalition are opposing the bill before us today. During the winter recess, I conducted an electorate-wide survey and the interim results are in. One of the many questions in Hinkler's biggest survey was asked of those aged over 65 with private health cover: will you continue with your insurance when Labor scripts fuel rebate?

The results so far indicate that three in four will stop or, at the very least, consider ending their cover. That's 42 per cent of those surveyed saying they simply can't afford to continue if the rebate is scrapped, and 33 per cent are unsure if they can hold onto it. Those who, until now, have been able to pay for private health insurance should be encouraged to do so because the equation is simple: it takes pressure off the public health system.

And yet the Labor government is punishing older Australians at every single turn. Take Bundaberg's David Orpin as a prime example. He is a 68-year-old pensioner and carer for his 91-year-old mother.

Both have private health insurance, but Mr Orpin fears the Labor government will force him and his mother to cut back on essentials. His minimal carer's payment doesn't cut it when it comes to forking out for rising rates, rego, fuel, food and general health costs. David asks how many people will ditch their private health cover and then be a burden on the public system?

Dave's mum, Shirley, is an OAM recipient, with lifelong service to our community through Scouts, Rotary and her church. In David's words—a message to Labor: I hope you can see that we are doing it tough, very tough. If we give up health insurance, then the government pays for all the bills.

Andrew and Isobel from Woodgate tell me that they will have to consider the cancellation of their current policy and rely on the public health system. They ask: It all seems a bit counterproductive, don't you think? Robyn and Len from Bundaberg pondered in an email to me: Maybe the Labor government wants us all to just die, and the problem will go away.

The couple went on to say that they worked all their lives and that they deserve better. I agree. We must give back to the people that have made lifelong sacrifices.

These people are in their twilight years, and a fair go is the least we can do. Wendy is battling breast cancer and has been treated in a private hospital. Wendy says her ongoing treatment will have to come to an end once the cuts come in.

She says: This Labor policy will break our backs as pensioners and put us into an overloaded public health system. The over-65s in my electorate of Hinkler and right across the nation deserve a fair go. They should not be forced to downgrade or drop their private health cover altogether.

But, under this $11 billion tax grab, this is what will happen. This is the same government that has left older Australians waiting longer than ever for aged care and handed decisions about their care to a computer algorithm. Now, it wants to strip away the private cover that keeps them well and independent and push them out of their homes and into a residential aged-care system that is already buckling.

It is a pattern of disregard for older Australians, and the coalition will fight it every step of the way. Labor has designed this policy to exploit the vulnerability of older Australians by banking on them being too frightened to walk away from their private health insurance. Here are some more stats.

Forty per cent of seniors in outer suburban and regional Australia are ready to drop their cover. This isn't just a coalition complaint; state health ministers in Queensland, Tasmania and New South Wales have all warned the policy will flood public hospitals already under strain. Older Australians on fixed incomes are the least able to absorb a price shock like this, and Labor's own department has confirmed they simply don't have the income to do it.

Removing the additional rebate for older Australians, a cut of four per cent for over-65s and eight per cent for over-70s, is a cost shift, not a saving. Canberra pockets the money while the states are left to pick up the pressure on public hospitals. As people get older, they are more likely to need health care.

Private health insurance helps reduce pressure on the public system. That's why older Australians currently get a slightly higher rebate. National Seniors Australia has found that as many as 45 per cent of people whose sole source of income is the age pension hold private health insurance.

Former Australian Medical Association president Dr Michael Gannon says it will affect individuals who have decided to put their health above the holidays and their leisure pursuits. The coalition team supports choice. The coalition believes, if people work hard to pay for private health insurance their entire working life, they should be encouraged.

That's why we will fight to stop Labor's cut to the private health insurance rebate. We are witnessing another case of Labor not doing their homework. It's a pattern, and every single time it's the older and more vulnerable Australians who are left to pay for the government's mistakes.

When it comes to aged care, this policy will potentially rush people to aged care, yet Labor has once again shortchanged older Australians. Announcing a residential aged-care funding increase that falls well short of the rising cost of delivering care. The government recently confirmed that the 2026-27 Australian National Aged Care Classification price will rise by just 2.55 per cent from 1 October, a figure that doesn't come close to covering the pressures facing the sector.

Latest ABS data shows health inflation rose 3.8 per cent over the past 12 months, with medical and hospital services up 4.9 per cent, the largest contributor to that increase. The stranded patients crisis is growing rapidly in Hinkler and across the nation. What did older Australians do to deserve to be treated so badly by this Labor government?

The electorate of Hinkler is serviced by the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service. At last count, 117 mostly elderly people remain stuck in our hospitals even though they're fit for discharge. While 117 people remain stranded in Hinkler hospitals, that figure is well over 1,000 across the state of Queensland.

People are stranded with nowhere to go and the impact is felt across the entire health system, with fewer beds, increased pressure on patient flow and longer waits. Hinkler is an electorate that has the second-highest percentage of people aged over 65 in the country and the highest percentage of people living with one or more long-term health conditions. Just today, it has been revealed that new Parliamentary Budget Office modelling has confirmed that almost half of Labor's $3 billion cut to the private health insurance rebate—close to $1.6 billion—will be ripped directly from the pockets of age pensioners, exposing why the government fought so hard to keep its own modelling secret.

The revelation comes after health minister Mark Butler repeatedly claimed there are no 'lazy savings' left in this budget. Let's not make things worse by adding this pressure to over-65s. It is simply unfair for Labor to punish older Australians by reducing the private health insurance rebate.

When will Labor stop short-changing older Australians?