PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Dr FREELANDER (Macarthur) (11:41): I thank the member for Clark for bringing this motion to the House. This is an important motion for us to discuss, and both our federal Labor government and I agree that all Australians deserve access to affordable treatments and devices they need to stay healthy and live full and productive lives. I've given more than half a century of my life to serving patients in need of medical attention and care in both the public and private system.

This experience is why I'm standing in front of you today. We've had a hybrid model of care in Australia for as long as I can remember, and it's served us very well. I can attest to the hybrid model working well across the board for many generations.

I've examined health systems throughout the developed world, and that's why I think we need to continue with that hybrid model. However, there is not the degree of transparency regarding private health care that there should be, and I agree with the member for Clark that some sort of independent overview of what is happening in private health care is very important.

We hear on the one hand that private health insurers are making large profits. On the other hand, we hear that private hospitals are struggling to make ends meet. Indeed, I've seen many areas where private hospitals have closed their doors.

We've seen that on the New South Wales South Coast. We've seen it recently with the Healthscope private hospital system, which was bought by private equity and had a very strange model of financing. Some of those hospitals have closed their doors.

We have a large Healthscope private hospital in my own electorate. If it were to close its doors, it would be devastating for health care across the board. The Labor government has invested billions of dollars in our public hospital system, and it will reach a record of public hospital funding from the Commonwealth of $220 billion in 2030-31.

In New South Wales public hospitals the Labor government has invested an additional $6½ billion over five years, with total public hospital funding of $64 billion over the duration of 2026-27 to 2030-31. We're investing billions of dollars for more beds. We live in a population that is ageing, and health care is becoming more expensive.

Our hybrid healthcare model only works when we make sure that every single dollar for health care is spent efficiently. I've seen quite a number of healthcare so-called innovations developed in the last 10 years that really are very inefficient. We've created silos in things like mental health care and developmental care for children.

They are disconnected, and the health dollar is being spent very inefficiently. The Labor government is committed to improving choice and transparency for all Australians with private health insurance, and the recent cutback in the extra rebate for those over 65 is not unreasonable given the efficiency of our spending. Why should someone who is under 65 and has a young family have to spend more for their private health insurance than older people who are over 65, who are more likely to have need of the system?

There are really good reasons to make access to private health insurance important, sustainable and equitable. We're committed to improving choice, as I've said, and that means delivering on our commitment to strengthening Medicare as well as providing hospital care for people who need it. As the member for Clark has already mentioned, there are many new developments in health care such as Hospital in the Home and new treatments for chronic conditions that require some hospital management that need to be funded and provided in an equitable manner around Australia.

Private health insurers were previously required to apply to the Minister for Health and Ageing if they wished to change a premium for an existing product. The government's legislative changes now require an insurer to seek ministerial approval for the premium charge for a proposed new product and, where changes are made that reduce cover, a benefit of an existing product.

This is important in making our health dollar more efficient. We're trying to make our health insurance premiums go further in a market where the costs of health care are expanding much more rapidly than the inflation rate, and the government will continue to monitor progress in the private system to ensure that the millions of Australian families that are handing over their hard earned cash every month for their private health insurance are getting value for money.

But I do agree that there is not a lot of transparency in the system. The average premium increase under the Liberals was more than four per cent; under us, it's just on three per cent. We are doing better.