Ben Harris spoke with ABC Radio Perth about the impact of rebate changes on older people in Western Australia

19 May 2026Interviews and Transcripts

Transcript

Station: ABC Perth
Program: Mornings with Nadia Mitsopoulos
Date: 18/5/2026
Time: 9:24 AM
Compere: Nadia Mitsopoulos

Interviewee: Ben Harris, Director of Policy and Research, Private Healthcare Australia

Nadia Mitsopoulos	More than three million Australians over 65 will have to pay around $240 more a year for private health insurance after the government decided to cut the rebate that they get and bring older people in line with younger Australians on the same income. So no more special treatment, and the government reckons around 44,000 people will probably give up their health insurance. Are you going to be one of them? You let me know. I spoke to Ben Harris about this. He’s the Director of Policy and Research at Private Healthcare Australia.
Ben Harris	Good morning, Nadia. How are you today?
Nadia Mitsopoulos	Can you explain what these cuts will look like for older people?
Ben Harris	At the moment, people over 65 and over 70 receive more from their private health insurance rebate. That means the government pays an extra four or eight per cent of their private health insurance premiums. The government has decided to remove this benefit for older people. In Western Australia that means 358,000 people over 65 will be paying more for their private health insurance next year.
Nadia Mitsopoulos	And why shouldn’t they pay more?
Ben Harris	The government’s making an argument about intergenerational equity, but one of the issues for a large proportion of these 358,000 people is they are not rich. That includes a lot of full pensioners, a lot of people on really low incomes, and what happens if you’re on a low income and prices go up, you might have to drop your health insurance or downgrade it. Now what that will do is put much more pressure on the public system. Private health insurance subsidises over 198,000 hospitalisations in Western Australia for people over 65, paying over $900 million in benefits. Even a small proportion of that going back into the public system will increase waiting times and increase waiting lists.
Nadia Mitsopoulos	And the government’s argument is, well, hang on, there you’ve got people over 65 who get a bigger rebate who are actually on the same income as younger people, so it’s not a level playing field. You obviously don’t buy that argument?
Ben Harris	It works to a point, but the issue with younger people on low incomes is they might be able to get higher incomes over time. If you’re older, over 65 on a pension, you’re on a pension, you’re not going to be getting richer over time. And these are the most vulnerable people in our community, and a lot of them are paying for private health insurance and won’t be able to if this change goes through.
Nadia Mitsopoulos	Have you had people with private health insurance coming to you saying they’re going to give it up? What’s the reaction been?
Ben Harris	We’ve had a big reaction, Nadia. We’ve had more people contact health funds over this issue than any other policy change in my memory. Older people have been paying in for private health insurance in many cases for decades, and just as they’re beginning to need it, they’re feeling like the rug is being pulled out from under them. Now, there are plenty of older people who make good money, have really strong incomes, and they’ll be able to cope with this. We are really worried about those people on pensions and really low incomes, really need this healthcare.
Nadia Mitsopoulos	So how many do you think would drop their health insurance? The government is arguing that 44,000 people around the country would drop their health insurance. We also know that people will probably downgrade their health insurance, for example, go from a gold product to a silver product, which means they wouldn’t be covered for really important things like cataracts and joint replacements. So the effect is going to be significant, and we think it’s going to add tens of millions of dollars to the Western Australian public health budget.
Nadia Mitsopoulos	And the pressure on EDs, will that be a factor, do you think?
Ben Harris	We think the pressure on EDs will go up a little bit, but the thing we’re most worried about is waiting times in public hospitals for non-urgent surgery. At the moment, you can wait months to get a cataract done. You can wait months to get a knee replacement or a hip replacement, and people are going to be living in pain with a hip replacement with sore hips before they get their replacement. They won’t be able to see, and if they’ve got cataracts, and the waiting times in the public system are really, really long. We do two thirds of unplanned surgery in the private system. Even a small shift from the private system to the public system will have big ramifications for the public system, let alone the effect on individuals
Nadia Mitsopoulos	On 102.5 ABC Perth and right across WA, you’re listening to Ben Harris, Director of Policy and Research at Private Healthcare Australia. And then the government argues, well, this will save around three billion dollars over four years, so it’s a big chunk of money that they will then use to fund aged care. So you could argue, well, this shift will still benefit older people.
Ben Harris	That’s an argument, but there’s also an argument that keeping people out of aged care should be our highest priority, and we know that we’re going to have a lot of demand for aged care into the future, I’m not disputing that at all. But if people can get their surgeries earlier, they can get them quicker, then they’ll be able to participate in life, they’ll be able to look after the grandkids, they’ll be able to go to their community events, and that will make a real difference in the long term. And, as I said, I’m really worried about people on very low incomes, pensioners, and so on. These are the people who can least afford to lose their private health insurance.
Nadia Mitsopoulos	Are you proposing some potential changes that could be made?
Ben Harris	Absolutely, Nadia. We think that pensioners and people on really low incomes should get a higher rebate. I agree with the Prime Minister. If you’re on a disability support pension or a carer’s pension, it’d be great to get a higher rebate as well. For people who are vulnerable pensioners, as they get older, need more health care, and private health insurance is really important to them. So we’re asking for the people who are most vulnerable on the lowest incomes to continue to receive this additional rebate.
Nadia Mitsopoulos	And Ben Harris, are there different pressures in regional areas?
Ben Harris	Absolutely, what we find across the country is that people in regional areas are more likely to be on lower incomes, and we know that people in country areas are more likely to be on pensions, and it’s so important if you’ve got to travel for care as well that you can control the timing, and private health insurance allows you to control the timing rather than be put on a wait list and get called in Perth at a time that does not suit you.
* * END * *