Private Healthcare Australia urges the Rudd Government to leave Private Health Insurance alone as the Government looks to make further spending cuts this week to counter its increasing Budget deficit.
PHA Chief Executive, Dr Michael Armitage, said the Government had targeted Private Health Insurance in recent years with changes to the Medicare Levy Surcharge, the means-testing of the PHI Rebate, changes to Lifetime Health Cover and to the Indexation of the Rebate.
“Reports that the Rudd Government has to find a further $8b in savings are particularly concerning for all Australians with Private Health Insurance, and the PHI sector.
“The consequence of the Government’s PHI policies is that all privately insured Australians will pay more for their private health cover and when people drop out or downgrade their cover, those people presently on public hospital waiting lists will have more people competing with them to get their operations done”.
“This Government should commit to leaving PHI alone in its next round of spending cuts,” said Dr Armitage.