Unions scare tactics and lies re Medicare, page-57

LABOR will do this anyway if they get in,-------------Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum


PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE
Health fund members are bracing for premium hikes four times the inflation rate next April as the 30 per cent government subsidy for health insurance falls to just 25 per cent.
Health Minister Sussan Ley has announced a major review ahead of changes expected in next year’s budget.
She has flagged abolishing the 30 per cent rebate on ancillary cover that insures services such as dental, physio and optical care, leaving rebates covering only hospital cover.
Instead, she says the government might encourage people to set up savings accounts to pay for ancillary services.
And she wants to see the end of policies that only cover patients in a public hospital or that have major restrictions on care.
The government is also considering scrapping the subsidy for private health insurance altogether and instead paying for 40 per cent of the cost of all hospital treatment, public or private, under radical reforms.
Meanwhile health funds are asking the government to increase the excess on insurance policies by 300 per cent from $500 to $2000 for singles and $1000 to $4000 for families.
Funds are also warning the $900 to $2400 Medicare Levy surcharge tax that forces people into health insurance, will have to be raised because fund premiums are rising so fast it will soon be cheaper to pay the tax than buy health cover.
Health funds want the government to slash the cost of hip, knee and other prostheses in half saving $800 million a year allowing premiums to be cut by $150.
They also want to offer a 10 per cent discount on premiums paid by young people who take out cover at age 25.