SENATE INQUIRY TO INVESTIGATE EFFECTS OF MEDICARE SURCHARGE LEVY CHANGES
The Member for Berowra, Philip Ruddock MP said today that the Senate inquiry into the Medicare Levy Surcharge Threshold will start in Perth this week and will visit every capital city. The enquiry will consider the impact the changes will have on public hospitals and private health insurance premium prices.
“This inquiry provides the opportunity for the people affected by these changes to have their say and that the Government did not consider the impact these changes would have on public hospital waiting lists or on premium prices. They were blinded by the $300 million in savings they could make,” Mr Ruddock said.
Since the Rudd Government announced the changes, we have seen a range of modelling which shows nearly 1 million people may opt out of private health insurance. These people will join long public waiting lists if they need treatment.
Despite the expected influx of public patients, last week the Government refused to guarantee extra funds for public hospitals to manage the increase in patient numbers.
The state and territory governments need to consider the impact these changes will have on their hospitals and need assurance from the Rudd Government that patients will receive the care they need.
The young and healthy may be the first to leave but this will be quickly followed by pensioners and the seriously ill who rely on their insurance but will be unable to afford escalating premiums.
‘When the health ministers meet in Canberra next week they need to look at ways of keeping people out of hospitals, not ways to increase waiting lists,” Philip Ruddock said