Labor’s new tax to hit 14,000 Farrer seniors
Senator the Hon Anne Ruston
Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care
Deputy Leader of the Opposition in The Senate
Senator for South Australia
Raissa Butkowski
Liberal Candidate for Farrer
More than 14,000 senior Farrer residents are set to be slugged with higher private health insurance costs under the Albanese Labor Government’s new health insurance tax.
Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care Anne Ruston said that Labor was asking older Australians to pay for its aged care crisis by stripping away over-65s’ private health insurance rebates.
“Labor created this aged care crisis, underfunded the system, and is now making older Australians pay for it,” Senator Ruston said.
“In Farrer alone, around 14,000 seniors will have to pay up to $640 more for their private health cover, at a time they can least afford it.
“This is unacceptable, and it comes at a time when private health insurance premiums are already rising by the highest level in almost a decade.”
Liberal Candidate for Farrer Raissa Butkowski said the impact on locals would be significant.
“We are talking about thousands of people across this electorate, who worked hard and paid for private health insurance all their lives. They are being punished with higher costs just when they would be relying most on their health cover, because of this Labor government’s terrible budget management,” Ms Butkowski said.
“This is happening in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, with many people across Farrer struggling with rising groceries, power bills and cost of fuel.”
“Our senior residents deserve better than being hit with higher health costs to cover up Labor’s failures.”
Claims by Health Minister Mark Butler that the higher rebate for older Australians had “no policy merit” were proven wrong by his own government-commissioned report in 2023, which found higher rebates for older Australians deliver strong value for money because this cohort has the highest healthcare costs – reducing pressure on the public system.
Senator Ruston said the policy was a false economy, with modelling showing that more than one hundred thousand older Australians could drop their private health cover as a result of the change.
“This will only add more pressure to public health services in the region, shifting patients from the private hospital to the already overstretched Albury Wodonga Regional Hospital.”
Ms Butkowski said that this was exactly why Farrer needed a Liberal representative who can take the fight to Labor and hold them to account for its harmful policies.
“We are committed to delivering better health outcomes in Farrer, including by standing up for older Australians who should not be slugged with higher costs because of the Albanese Government’s failures,” Ms Butkowski said.
“We will also invest $200 million to deliver our Healthcare Built to Last package, which will complete the critical gaps in the hospital upgrade that Labor has refused to fund, invest in the region's health infrastructure future by kicking off work on a new hospital, and deliver better access to mental health services for adolescents and adults across the community.”
“With Labor’s cuts, Farrer needs Liberal’s investment in our health system more than ever,” Ms Butkowski concluded.
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