Introduction

The Federal Government is proposing further changes to the Rebate on Private Health Insurance.

These changes mean you will pay more for your private cover or wait longer on public hospital lists for your care.

How you can stop the changes

You can help stop these further Rebate changes by telling your Federal MP to vote against them. To find your MP, enter your postcode in the field below and click the "Find your MP" button. This will then provide you with the name and contact details for your Federal MP.

What the Government is doing

Until recently, everyone with private health insurance received the 30% Rebate (or higher if you are aged 65 or older) to assist make private cover more affordable.

On 1 July 2012 the Rebate became means-tested. This means your eligibility for the Rebate now depends on what income you earn. If you earn more than $84,000 (as a single, or more than $168,000 as a family) this financial year your rebate will be affected.

Now the Federal Government intends to make further changes to the rebate which will see:

1. the Rebate removed from the Lifetime Health Cover loading (this applies if you joined private hospital cover after the age of 30) from 1 July 2013; and
   
   
2. changes to the Rebate's indexation, which will mean from 1 April 2014 your Rebate will reduce relative to the premium you pay for your cover.

These measures will affect all Australians.

If you are one of the 12.4 million Australians with private health insurance your cover will become less affordable, and over time, more people will depend on public hospitals for their treatment. This will place enormous pressure on our public health system which everyone knows is already under strain.

The Federal Government has introduced legislation into the Parliament to remove the rebate component from the Lifetime Health Cover loading and will soon look to do the same to legislate the changes to the Rebate's indexation.

Click here to find out how these changes will affect you.