Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Dobell for his question. Obviously he, like all members of the House, is interested in the issue of private health insurance. It is a particularly timely question, given that the other place has just voted against the first of the private health insurance rebate measures. The opposition have blown a $2 billion hole in the budget and have no health policies of any substance to put forward to the public. We are committed to making sure that private health insurance is affordable for low- and middle-income earners. This year I used my powers under the Private Health Insurance Act to ask for resubmissions from more than half of the health funds, as their proposed increases were too high. This has resulted in lower rebates for 75 per cent of private health members, some 8.5 million people.

See this speech in context