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

Mr HOGAN (Page—Deputy Manager of Opposition Business) (11:35): I rise to speak against the Private Health Insurance Amendment (Modernising the Private Health Insurance Rebate) Bill 2026. Government is about choices. I acknowledge federal governments, state governments, governments across the world and local councils have limitations and stretches on budgets, on what they can afford to pay and on what benefits they can afford to support.

There's a lot of pressure on where they get their income from and how they spend their money. I certainly acknowledge that. But what a government portrays is its priorities, and this government has portrayed a very bad ideology here in what they are pursuing.

This government has decided to take a health rebate away from 1.2 million senior Australians. They also never promised or said they would do this at the last election. They didn't tell these senior Australians they were going to do this at the last election.

At the same, they are wasting money in other areas. Their priority is to spend $9 billion on a green hydrogen fantasy. The Minister for Climate Change and Energy said he never believed the hype about green hydrogen, yet this government spent $9 billion on green hydrogen at the same time as they're taking money away from senior Australians who are going to lose their health rebate.

That says everything about the priorities of this Labor government—let's take money away from senior Australians who've worked their whole lives, who now won't be able to afford private insurance, but let's keep putting billions of dollars into green hydrogen projects that even the minister doesn't believe will work. That shows the folly of this Labor government.

We've had many cases—and I will go through a few—in the sense that a lot of these senior Australians who have paid for their private health insurance over many years or many decades now won't be able to afford it at a time in their life they're going to need it. There's another ramification of this. The federal government has looked at this as a zero-sum game.

When the Minister for Health and Ageing was asked to justify this, he said, 'Well, we have difficult decisions to make here, so we've taken it from people's private health rebate, and we're putting it into aged care—zero sum, all square.' It's not all square. We've had every state Labor premier, every state premier, say this is bad policy. We all understand this.

I know you understand this, Deputy Speaker Buchholz. When these senior Australians can no longer afford their private health insurance, they are going to be completely dependent on the public health system. At the moment our system works.

People are spread around to different things. If you can afford private health insurance, a lot of those people will go into a private hospital to have a procedure done or when they need to use those resources. There are tens of thousands of cases where people are going to say they're no longer going to pay for private health insurance.

They will be rolling into our public health system and public hospitals instead of the private health system. What does that mean? Our public hospital and public health systems are already overrun.

There are already huge delays. There are already huge queues. Does this Labor government care about that?

No. The next time you go to a public hospital and there's a huge queue or the next time you go to your doctor and you need a public health procedure that is going to take you months, if not years, to get, you can blame this Albanese Labor government. Lifting this private health rebate means that those queues and those waitlists at public hospitals are just about to get longer.

You can thank Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister, for that the next time you go to your doctor. As every member on this side has spoken to and given quotes about, all the state premiers—the New South Wales Labor premier, the Western Australian Labor premier, the South Australian Labor premier—have spoken about this. I don't think a lot of the ministers opposite get the reality around what this actually means for real people, so I'm going to read out some correspondence that I've had from people in my community about the ramifications of this cruel decision by the Labor government.

Christine from Iuka says: I have so far managed to keep my private health insurance but that will change with this disastrous decision. Robyn from Gulmarrad says: Currently private health insurance costs us 9.4% of our total income being the highest single cost of our cost of living other than food. He will now no longer be able to afford private health insurance, because of this Labor government's decision.

Rob from Lismore says: We are both in our 70's & have paid private health all our working life. If this rebate is removed, we will seriously have to consider cancelling our cover as the cost will come out of our reach on a pension as I am sure many others like will also have to do. This will put more pressure on Medicare.

Rob from Lismore can work out that this is going to put more pressure on the public health system, but obviously the federal government can't work that out. Sally-Ann from Tregeagle says: I am writing because I am feeling so disillusioned with the decision to once again punish the older generation by the government. I absolutely cannot understand how making pensioners pay more for private health insurance helps a young person into their first home.

This emotion is epitomising how this generation more generally are feeling about this government. They've saved money, they've had a bit of a go, they've paid their taxes, and the message they're getting from this Albanese government is they don't care: 'Bad luck, because we're not going to help you. And we're going to take a rebate off you to make life harder.' Elaine from Yamba says: I believe the government has discriminated against those who are over the age of 65 and have private health insurance.

We have been paying private health insurance for over 54 years and have not been a burden to the public hospital systems. Now we are being discriminated against because of our ages. Yes, Elaine from Yamba, you are being discriminated against by this Labor government because of your age.

Colin from Lismore Heights says: From the beginning of my teaching career, I paid for private health through the Teachers Federation Health Society. Through marriage and family, I continued with family contributions. I am now into my fifteenth year of retirement.

My wife, also a teacher, paid into the Teachers Health Fund when she commenced teaching. She taught for over forty years. She has had some significant medical needs over the last few years, and we were grateful that we kept up our private health (at considerable cost).

However, this proposal by the Labor Government is adding to the hardship of trying to maintain a reasonable retirement in our later years. We are on a fixed pension income. We don't have the capability to offset increased living costs by taking on work.

We even supervise HSC to gain some extra income for Christmas gifts. That's it! It seems the older you get the more you disappear.

Surely there are savings to be made elsewhere instead of this attack on a soft target. Please keep fighting this unfair impost. Well, Colin, I will.

And there are other areas where this government could have made savings, and I'll go back to one: the $9 billion spent by this Labor government on green hydrogen projects. Now, Minister Chris Bowen says he doesn't believe all the hype about green hydrogen. If he has spent $9 billion on a project that he believes there was a lot of hype about, how many taxpayer dollars would he have spent if he seriously believed in it?

But, again, these are the priorities of this Labor government. Max from Yamba says it was a very poor decision of the government to cut the rebate on oldies' private health and 'we, for one, will be no longer doing private health'. So there will be more pressure on the Clarence Valley public health system because Max from Yamba is leaving his private health insurance.

Brian from Woolgoolga says: I am age 74 come October this year and i have been a member of HCF since 1971 when I commenced work. I am married and I find it important to have access to Private Health as one never knows when an emergency may arise and I am well aware of the pressure our Public System is under in the area where I live. In addition, as I get older, I am facing Hip, Knee and possibly Vack Surgery so I know I need to maintain my Private Health Insurance.

You are aware that under the Albanese Labor Government with Inflation and Cost of Living on the rise the last thing I need is a reduction in Private Health Rebate that puts further pressure on my budget. Brian from Woolgoolga, I am certainly aware of that and, yes, very aware, as you are, of the pressures that this will put on the public health system. Loris from Grafton says: I recently looked into this cut and realised that with the annual health insurance increase, in April, and the rebate reduction in July, I will be paying approximately 20 per cent more for my health insurance.

As a pensioner, surviving only on my fortnightly payment, it can't afford this. I phoned my health insurer and cancelled my hospital cover and now only pay for extras. When I lived on the Gold Coast, before retiring 4 years ago and moved to Grafton, there were plenty of private hospitals to choose, so if I have an emergency, I'd go to Grafton Base Hospital.

To have to go to Lismore or Coffs Harbour for treatment isn't realistic. I've had 2 operations in the past 12 months, one at Grafton Base Hospital and the other at the Royal north Shore. Although I had private cover, both … So what's the point of paying for private?

I am now saving $165 … —for other cost-of-living increases they have— … by cancelling hospital cover. Lisa from Numulgi says: I am so mad at labour I want to scream. They are ruining our retirement which we purposefully worked diligently, invested wisely, saved and sacrificed for.

Why do we have to be brought down to the level of those who didn't even try. Anthony from Richmond Hill says: Ever since I commenced my first fulltime job (in 1970) I have had private health insurance. It has long been known that health care costs rise in old age, but we were always told back then it would be okay because the premiums are structured to take this into account.

I am considering withdrawing my contribution after the change comes into effect. I am also looking at whether I can reduce the premium and pay more excess. Bob from Glenugie says: I had heard of this and have already decided to cancel my private health … —insurance, because he worked out the increase it will be for him.

He goes on: My wife and I … have utilised … private health membership but with everything else going up it will now be dropped. A couple from Goonellabah says: Yes, we, too are appalled at this decision. Surely there are other areas other than health the Govt. can reap extra funds.

Leave the pensioners alone. They are the group that has probably paid private health care premiums for most of their lives. As it is, the regular rises in health premiums is far over the top, almost unaffordable … Angelo from Coraki says: I'm 64 years old dropped out of private health insurance on 30 June this year.

I worked continuously since I was 17 years old and now … —he can't afford to pay for his private health insurance. John from Modanville says: Both Helen and I will be affected by this miserable Labor governments cut to our private health rebate. I am 80 Helen is 78, we received full aged pension, with a very modest superannuation allocated pension.

We have paid private health insurance continuously since before we were married in 1966, over 60 years. The premiums continue rise and we sometimes go without to keep insured during this difficult cost of living crisis caused … —they know— … by our government's reckless spending and mismanagement. If this cut happens it's likely that we will have to opt out of private health at a time in life that we really need to be covered.

Liz from Townsend says: Like so many others I have worked long and hard throughout my life, always enjoying private health care. I am not wealthy; health care is important to me. I worked mostly in community organisations, managing homelessness and all its complexities for last 40 years and retiring at 73. … Paid my fair share of taxes, earned lower superannuation benefits, I stuck with it because I see the value in my fellow humans and it was ministry as well as my work.

Nowadays I am receiving a full aged pension … —and she has a super contribution as well. I am in no position to absorb the higher health cover costs. This at a time when I more 5likely to need timely health care as I age.

Public health wait lists are months and years long. Yes, they are, Liz, and they're going to get longer now. This move by Labor is insulting, arrogant, ruthless.

As I see it, it's another attack on older Australians. The rubbish that comes from Labor about fairness and equity is unfathomable. Labor seems set on eliminating older people as quickly as they can, wearing them down by creating stress and anxiety, devaluing them, creating less opportunity for timely health care, and that's before I mention the last Labor budget.

I think we get the essence there. They're not my words; they're the words of elderly people, seniors, in my community. What concerns me most is not only their concern but the mental health anguish that this is now causing older Australians.

Those people have had private health insurance, maintained it and kept it because they realised it was going to be more important to them in their senior years. This very cruel and heartless decision by the Labor government means they are not going to be able to afford it at the very time they need it. Shame on this government.