Private health insurance
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The private health insurance rebate, another Howard government policy, is so ripe for reform it positively reeks.
As a matter of principle, the government should provide universal high-quality and affordable public hospital care, including timely elective surgery with a clear health benefit. This — the promise of Medicare — is surely what most Australians want.
There's clearly an excellent case to scrap the private health insurance rebate altogether, together with lifetime health cover and the Medicare levy surcharge.
These measures, in driving people to take up private health insurance, do the following:
- Cost the taxpayer billions of dollars per year (the PHI rebate)
- Arguably do little to alleviate pressures on the public hospital system
- Represent an inverted government welfare measure as the biggest rebates are paid to those Australians with the most expensive policies — by definition the wealthiest amongst us
- Help cement a widespread (but faulty) notion that individual choice should be compensated by those unable to make the same choices or derive the same benefits
Here's a couple of references that briefly list some of the arguments for and against the private health insurance rebate:
- The private health insurance rebate has cost taxpayers $100 billion and only benefits some. Should we scrap it?, The Conversation, 20 April 2022
- Senate Select Committee Inquiry into Medicare: Medicare - healthcare or welfare?, Parliament of Australia, 30 October 2003 (full report available here)