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

Dr RYAN (Kooyong) (17:57): This is punching down on vulnerable Australians rather than finding savings in legitimate places in the budget. I'm proposing that the government carves out recipients of the age pension from this bill if it's serious about delivering on Australian values. I support funding aged care.

I support reforming the private health insurance system. But more than three million older Australians are being asked to pay more for their private health insurance without the government demonstrating to anyone's satisfaction and with appropriate transparency that this measure is a net positive for the health system as a whole and that it has a plan if its assumptions prove wrong.

The government has not done that, and so I move the second reading amendment as circulated in my name: That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words: "the House declines to give the bill a second reading and: (1) notes that the Government developed this reform without adequate consultation with industry or state and territory governments and has failed to publish its full net fiscal impact, including the cost of increased demand on public hospitals and the potential impact of downgrades to private health insurance cover; and (2) calls on the Government to: (a) publish the net fiscal impact of this measure, including forgone Medicare Levy Surcharge revenue and the projected cost shift to state and territory public hospital systems, rather than relying solely on the gross $2.994 billion rebate headline saving; and (b) exempt Age Pension recipients from the removal of the age-based rebate uplift, noting the Parliamentary Budget Office's budget analysis that Age Pension recipients will account for $1.563 billion, or around half, of the $2.994 billion in projected savings to 2029-30".

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Dr Freelander ): Is the amendment seconded? Ms Chaney: I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The original question was that this bill be now read a second time.

To this the honourable member for Kooyong has moved as an amendment that all words after 'That' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. The question therefore now is that the amendment be agreed to.