Transcript
Station: ABC Far North Queensland
Program: Breakfast with Charlie McKillop
Date: 6/5/2026
Time: 7:17 AM
Compere: Charlie McKillop
Program: Breakfast with Charlie McKillop
Date: 6/5/2026
Time: 7:17 AM
Compere: Charlie McKillop
Interviewee: Dr Rachel David, CEO, Private Healthcare Australia
| Charlie McKillop | This one on the grapevine, it has been out in the news everywhere with the federal government proposing to cut the higher rebate for private health insurers over 65. Many retirees may see their premiums rise sharply, as much as by three times what a younger policy holder might pay. It is looking likely to hit older Australians where it hurts the most, right in their wallets. Advocacy group Private Healthcare Australia has been crunching the numbers and examining the possible impact of these health insurance changes. Its CEO Dr Rachel David is with you right now on ABC Far North. Dr Rachel David, good morning. |
| Rachel David | Morning Charlie. |
| Charlie McKillop | Just how many older Australians will these cuts to the private health rebate impact? |
| Rachel David | Well look, there are 3 million Australians aged over 65 with private health insurance and the majority of them will be impacted. The extra rebate is means tested, so basically the people that will be impacted are on the lower incomes. And we’re actually looking at 400,000 who are on the age pension who are going to have to scratch around and find some more money to fund their premiums for next year. |
| Charlie McKillop | So you, I’m pointing out here that the private health insurance is not just the purview of independent retirees, there are many age pensioners that are your policyholders. |
| Rachel David | Absolutely, there’s a number of people on very low incomes who are struggling to maintain their private health insurance and pay their premiums. The government has suggested that 44,000 will drop their cover as a result of this measure and you know we’re worried about that because those people will inevitably go and add to public hospital waiting lists. But perhaps more worrying is the number of people who could downgrade their cover and find that they’re not covered for diseases which are quite common in this age group, like joint replacements, and those people will end up using the public hospital system as well. So we really don’t think that this is the right way for the government to try and make savings. What it’s doing is taking money from people who are taking some responsibility for their own health care and having an impact on the public hospital system where inevitably those people who drop out and downgrade are going to end up. |
| Charlie McKillop | Yeah, but the Federal Health Minister, Mark Butler, has made no apology for the fact that he says these changes are about intergenerational equity, that it’s not fair that younger people subsidise older people who are using the health system more and more. What’s your response to that? |
| Rachel David | Look, I think that what I’d be saying is that a number of these people who are aged over 65 have been paying their private health insurance for years and years. And just when they get to the point when they’re going to need it, the rug gets ripped out from underneath them. So in terms of equity, I don’t think it’s a fair treatment of the people that currently have private health insurance in that age group. The other thing that they’ve said is that they’re going to use some of these savings to pay for some of the shortcomings in the aged care system, like for some of the home care packages, which doesn’t really speak to the intergenerational equity argument either. It’s just shifting money around and in the process, hitting some older people really hard in the hip pocket. |
| Charlie McKillop | You’re hearing from Rachel David. She’s from Private Healthcare Australia, the lobby group that takes the case forward for private health insurers. Is that a conversation closed now with the Federal Government or is the door still ajar? The budget’s not quite set in ink yet, is it? |
| Rachel David | Look, I think in terms, we’re going to continue to advocate on this issue because it is just so serious, the thought that there is a number of people, thousands, who could end up in the public hospital system in spite of paying private health insurance for many, many years. So we are going to continue to advocate on this issue. We’re not suggesting that the entire plan be dropped, but we think that people on the pension and on very low incomes need to be quarantined from this savings measure. |
| Charlie McKillop | So what is your advice to policymakers? I guess all policymakers, not just those over 65 that might be hit hardest by these changes to the rebate. What should they be doing to, I guess, keep healthcare as accessible and as affordable as possible given that all household budgets are being stretched to the limit at the moment? |
| Rachel David | Look, that’s exactly right. What we’re suggesting is that very low income earners and pensioners are quarantined from this plan if they want to take it forward and because they are the people that are at the most risk of dropping out or downgrading and using the public hospital system. They also tend to be the people that are the sickest. So they have the majority of the chronic conditions and acute issues that occur with aging and that could actually see them going to a public hospital. |
| Charlie McKillop | All right well I do appreciate you coming on to raise more awareness about some impending changes that are going to impact a lot of our listeners across Far North Queensland. |
| Rachel David | Thanks Charlie. |
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