Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Private Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Age of Dependants) Bill 2021. Australia has a two-tiered system of private and public health funding. The private health sector acts as both a complement and a substitute for the public health system. It is about ensuring we have a great quality safety net for all but choice and opportunity for those who want it. Australia's private healthcare system is community rated and relies on a mix of consumers with different risk profiles to remain financially viable. However, recently, risk profiles have been shifting, as young people have opted out of private health insurance. That is why I welcome this legislation.

The imbalance that is occurring in the private health insurance industry needs to be addressed to ensure that the private health insurance sector can flourish and continue to offer choice and flexibility for consumers. That is why the Morrison government is working hard to make sure our nation's private health insurance is simpler and more affordable for younger Australians. As they say, it's about easing the squeeze for private health insurance. I'm delighted that young people right across Australia and those in my electorate of Higgins will be able to stay on their parents' private health insurance policy for longer, with our landmark reforms. That is good news for them and it's good news for their future.

I'd like to provide an example of how this legislation will affect people within my electorate. There is a young constituent, a 24-year-old man, who lives in Higgins who has juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. He recently turned 24. This young man travelled overseas to spend time with his girlfriend and her family in Chile. He had been waiting for a public-listed appointment for his epilepsy. He had become independent from his family. He wanted to live in a way that enabled him to do things his way, and he was waiting for a public-listed appointment. He had a fit when he was overseas in Chile. It was quite a serious fit—life-threatening. He then came home to Australia and realised that his private health insurance had lapsed, and he was unable to get an appointment.

This young man had been waiting for a long period of time in the public health system, and what he had done was not continue his private health insurance. That is because he had just commenced work. He had finished university and was in the first year of his job. It wasn't one of his financial priorities. That's very understandable for young people. When they first get a job, that job is very, very important to them and every penny counts. This young man decided that private health insurance wasn't a priority for him. But, as a result, he'd waited longer than was necessary. He ended up not getting the medication adjustment that was needed, and he developed a fit.

That young man happened to be my son Monty Allen, so I was delighted to see that this legislation would apply to him and that, at the age of 24, he would be able to be brought under my family private health insurance until the age of 31. As a mother, it gives me comfort that he will be able to continue to have private health insurance, continue to have choice and opportunity, and access a quicker appointment to make sure that his epilepsy is kept under control. We also know that research shows that individuals who have been introduced to private health insurance have a higher likelihood of renewing their insurance in the future, and I'm hopeful that Monty will get used to having his private health insurance and enjoy the benefits, and that, when he gets to the age of 31 and can no longer be covered under our family private health insurance, he'll be at an age when he wishes to invest in his own health future through private health insurance. Now that we've had these sensible and reasonable changes to our legislation, young adults are more likely to take out insurance after making use of it on a family plan. It's at a time of their life when they're starting to look at starting their own family and taking on the private health responsibilities that they may like to have for their partner, whoever that may be, and their children, if they are to have them.

As a member of parliament representing a vibrant, younger electorate, and as a mother of four young adults, I know how important reforms to ensure a successful private health insurance system are. We on this side of the House are firmly committed to strengthening and simplifying private health insurance and making it more accessible. We understand that we have a very unique health and education system in Australia, one that benefits from the private-public balance. Whether it's health or education, we take the best from the European system, which is more socialised, and the best from the private system in the US. We have a very good system which provides a good, high-quality baseline level of health and education, as well as choices and options for those who wish to pay more for flexibility and accessibility in their insurance. Under the reforms proposed in this bill, the maximum age of dependency for private health insurance policies will be increased from 24 to 31 years of age. It is a very practical measure to support the private health insurance sector. It means young adults will be able to stay on their parents' private health insurance policy for longer, at a time when many younger adults may consider opting out of private health insurance altogether.

For the first time, there will also be an opportunity for insurers to offer policies with no age limit for dependants with a disability. Again, it's simplifying the system and making it fairer. As a paediatrician, I would hear, over and over again, about people with chronic health conditions and disabilities moving into the adult sector and how difficult it is for them to move into a sector which doesn't see them in the same way as the paediatric sector does. It is very encouraging that this change to our legislation is being proposed. Particularly for young children with a disability growing into adults, it's very important that they continue to have support, as they are often still dependent on their family and their parents. People with a disability can be confident they will be provided with the opportunity to access more affordable private health insurance without age limits, as they can be covered under a family policy at a lower cost, rather than having to purchase a standalone policy. I think both sides of the House should welcome this change to our policy and legislation, because it helps those who need help the most.

Further to that, we have also simplified the definition of 'disability' for the purposes of private health insurance such that a person living with a disability is any person who is a participant in the NDIS. We're bringing the NDIS definition of disability in line with the PHI definition. That's been welcomed by the insurers and the sectors. However, private health insurers will have the flexibility to go beyond this to offer coverage to those who do not meet the NDIS eligibility requirements. It will provide the opportunity to those PHIs who want to step up and support the disability sector to do just that.

While this reform primarily benefits younger Australians, who can remain on their parents' insurance policy for longer, it will also contribute to making our private health insurance more sustainable in the longer term by helping transition more young people to their own adult cover when they turn 31 years of age. This is good for the sector. It's good for the stability and the long-term viability of the sector. This bill reflects the Morrison government's ongoing reforms to private health insurance to ensure that it is more affordable, more accessible and more attractive to all Australians. Acting on our commitments, these reforms have delivered the lowest annual average industry premium rise for consumers in two decades. At just 2.74 per cent, this figure is over 50 per cent lower than it was under the previous Labor government. Young people particularly stand to benefit, with 425,000 people aged 18 to 29 receiving discounts of up to 10 per cent on their premiums since 1 April 2019, when those measures were introduced. With the Morrison government committed to improving private health insurance for all Australians, more than 13.7 million Australians have now bought policies, receiving a record $21.9 billion in benefits for medical services through the private health system.

From the financial side of things, the private health system is really doing some significant heavy lifting with regard to our healthcare system. It's a very important part of the system, which includes the public and the private sectors. Private does do a lot of heavy lifting with regard to service provision for Australians.

Further, as a doctor, I'm a passionate advocate for better health outcomes, which is why I'm particularly proud that this reform will further assist in the access to mental health services for young people. Almost half the population—45 per cent—aged between 16 and 85 will experience some form of mental health difficulty in their lifetimes. I don't think that's a surprise to anyone in this House; I'm sure it's not a surprise to anyone listening to this speech. We know mental health issues are on the rise. They're more recognised. They're more concerning. We need to do more to support people who need to access the services, both in a preventative capacity and in a treatment capacity. Typically, onset is around mid to late adolescence, with young people having the highest prevalence of any age group. So we need to do more to help our young. In these darkest moments, we must ensure access to vital psychiatric services, particularly as our younger generations have faced the challenges that the COVID pandemic has delivered.

Supporting young people around Australia and their mental health is a priority for the Morrison government, and instrumental to this plan is lowering the cost of private health insurance for young Australians so they can use that in that way. The government's reforms to private health insurance are improving access to medical services for young people, including mental health services, and that is a good reason in itself to continue to support your own private health insurance, if you have indeed been part of a family private health insurance plan. This is in conjunction with our commitment as a government of $509 million towards the Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan, the most substantial strategy of its kind in Australian history. We recognise the difficulties Australians face with regard to mental health, and we have Australia's back when it comes to delivering services for mental health.

The coronavirus pandemic has shown us all the importance of a world-class health system. Indeed, Australia's health system continues to be one of the best in the world. I think Australians knew that before the COVID pandemic, but now they are certain of it. That is because we can see in our public health response, in our health delivery—whether it comes to PPE provision, COVID testing or now the COVID vaccine rollout—that the Australian healthcare system has what it takes to deliver great outcomes for all Australians. The private health insurance system is a very important part of that sector.

The Australian government's longstanding and robust relationship with the private health insurance sector ensured that resources could be mustered in the response to the COVID pandemic. I know that in Victoria in particular there was a very good arrangement made between the private healthcare system and the public healthcare system, where both systems worked together in tandem to increase the capability of our intensive care beds—from 2,200, tripling to 7,500 in preparation for what never eventuated, in preparation for what was going to be if we didn't take the actions that we took to close our borders internationally and activate quarantine and contact tracing. If those hadn't worked, then we would have had a very rapid rise in our intensive care beds. The private and public healthcare sectors worked hand in glove, along with the national cabinet and the work between the federal government and the Victorian state government, to ensure that we could triple our ICU capacity in the event of a pandemic spiralling out of control here in Australia. Thank goodness that was not required, but the preparedness in the system—the preparedness to work together across the private and public health sectors and across the state and federal divisions—is to be celebrated.

So I think that, as Australians, we can all feel very grateful. There was a recognition that COVID was providing us with very unique challenges, but Australia had a very unique response—a very good response; a par excellence response—to the pandemic as it was emerging around the globe. Australia responded in a very swift, a very effective and a very appropriate way with regard to both the health and economic issues that faced our country. We did this together, as a country.

Continued investment by the Morrison government into private health insurance, with over $6.3 billion via the private health insurance rebate, proves our commitment to affordable and flexible options for all Australians when choosing private health insurance. This bill reflects the hard work of the Morrison government to ensure the improvement of our private health system as an accessible, affordable and fair system for all Australians. I commend this bill to the House.

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