Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Hansard source

This bill, the Health Legislation Amendment (Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers) Bill 2026, addresses two key concerns: phoenixing products in private health care and transparency on medical fees by medical practitioners.

I am the shadow minister for regional health and, as I said in my maiden speech in 2019, your postcode should not determine your health status. Sadly and, at times, tragically, it still does today. I regularly survey my constituents and my latest survey revealed only 40 per cent of Mallee residents feel they have adequate private health insurance. Of those that actually hold private health insurance, about a quarter believe it is inadequate for their needs. It may well be worse now. The medical fee changes in this bill follow on from the former coalition government's Medical Costs Finder, which was implemented after the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Out-of-Pocket Costs investigation, to help patients make informed decisions before seeing a specialist. We, the coalition, created the Medical Costs Finder to prevent bill shock when seeing a medical specialist. The former coalition government implemented the Medical Costs Finder in 2019 for stakeholders to use on a voluntary basis. This bill makes that program compulsory.

Regrettably, by December 2022, 85 per cent of participants in an Australia's Health Panel survey had not heard of Medical Costs Finder. I note that we are now being asked to make it mandatory, four years into this government's term. You have to wonder how hard this government has promoted the tool to prevent bill shock. The public record that Labor or the department have done much to promote the Medical Costs Finder is very scant. When the Medical Costs Finder was launched, the then chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, said the website was an important step in improving the transparency of medical costs. I quote him:

We know the vast majority of doctors charge reasonable and proportionate fees and disclose the costs of treatment and charges to their patients. However, some doctors do charge high fees. This website is an important step in improving understanding and transparency of medical costs.

Importantly, the coalition government said we would add more detail and functionality, as recommended by the ministerial advisory committee. As I say, unfortunately, since we lost office, Labor appear to have done very little to promote the Medical Costs Finder project, which explains its low level of uptake.

Let's look at the real figures on private health cover, because Mallee constituents tell me their cover isn't providing them with everything they expected. The ABC reported that due to the cost-of-living crisis, between December 2020 and December 2023, 400,000 Australians downgraded their gold health insurance coverage. Private Healthcare Australia added that, in the first half of 2024, a further 216,000 private health policies were downgraded. PHA said at the time that almost 15 million Australians—55 per cent of the population—had some kind of private health insurance and that it was critical to keep pressure off the public system. In December 2025, a media release in relation to the AMA Private health insurance report card stated:

In further warning signs for the sector, gold-tier policies are in decline as consumers face rising premiums and cost-of-living pressures. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the number of gold-tier policies have dropped by 360,000, despite the overall number of policies growing.

The AMA noted that the number of Australians with gold-tier cover has now fallen to just 743,000 across Australia. That five-year slump represents almost one-third of Australians with gold-tier cover abandoning that cover. I mention this because, as the AMA said in December, gold-tier policies are particularly susceptible to 'phoenixing'. It is understandable that the government wants to take steps to prevent 'phoenixing' to maintain confidence and affordability in gold-tier private health insurance. I note the AMA states it supports Medical Costs Finder and supports transparency, as we all do—or should—though the government likes to claim transparency but is often lacking in that area.

Informed choices are the best choices when it comes to medical care, and, in a cost-of-living crisis, being financially informed before making choices to access private health care is actually essential. The AMA also noted that 68 per cent of private health hospital policies now contain exclusions such as pregnancy, joint replacements or cataracts. The latest quarterly private health insurance membership and benefits data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, or APRA, shows that now only 45.6 per cent of the population have hospital-level private health cover, with the number of policies over that reporting comparison year falling by 150,000 and the number of insured persons falling by 287,000. That's despite the number of hospital treatment episodes rising by about 90,000 cases. Critically, in this cost-of-living crisis, the out-of-pocket costs per hospital treatment episode have risen more significantly than the cost of general treatment, like extras. Hospital treatment out-of-pocket costs on private health rose from $437 to $471, up 7.7 per cent year on year to December 2025, whereas general treatment only rose from $59 to almost $63, still a 5.6 per cent increase but not as dramatic.

Notably, in the last report reporting data, the demographic dropping hospital treatment insurance, if you exclude those over 80 years old, is people aged 20 to 24 years. Why would that be? Over 5,000 Australians dropped their hospital cover in just one quarter. You can picture it, can't you? mum and/or dad say, 'Keep your hospital covered,' but, as a younger person leaves home and tries to pay the rent and make ends meet, they dump the cover—because of course they're invincible, as we all know!—and don't think they need it. Consequently, the Ahpra data shows the biggest dip in cover is for those aged in their 20s. But then, as the 31st birthday looms for lifetime health cover, LHC, the rates pick up again.

I note that, during this cost-of-living crisis, in February the Albanese government approved an average premium increase of 4.41 per cent, effective in a week's time on 1 April, the largest rise in seven years. Of course, at the time it was announced, it was above the rate of inflation, not so anymore. For context, Canstar says that a 4.41 per cent increase equates to annual costs rising by $167, but, for families on an average priced gold hospital policy, premiums will rise by $330. Even families on bronze cover will cop a $120 increase this year under Labor. However, importantly, Canstar noted that the cost of individual gold policies rose by an average of 11.6 per cent between March and April, despite the previous year's approved average being just 3.73 per cent. Canstar predicted last month that it's highly likely more Australians will downgrade their hospital cover on the back of Labor's private health premium increase. Naturally, Canstar recommended Australians shop around for the best deal.

Before the pandemic, the former coalition government approved an average industry premium change of just 2.92 per cent in 2020, which was down about 50 per cent on Labor's last year in office. In government, the coalition supported more than 15 million Australians taking out private health cover at the lowest cost in more than 20 years. By contrast, primary health care is becoming unaffordable under Labor—a bit like fuel—with bulk-billing collapsing 11 per cent, and there have been 40 million fewer bulk-billed GP visits in the past financial year alone.

Let's remember too that 14 private maternity wards have closed under the Albanese Labor government. That is shameful. You have to wonder whether the combined effect of premium increases, policy downgrades and private hospital service closures and the reduction in private health cover is, as the Minister for Home Affairs likes to often say, 'by design' to undermine confidence in private health cover. Remember former minister Plibersek once bragged at a press conference: 'Every promise I made, I paid for. How did I pay for it? I paid for it by targeting private health insurance.' I'll bet she's proud of that.

There's an interdependence between private hospitals and the private health insurance sector. Private hospitals in Australia are under acute financial strain, with operating profits plummeting and 82 closures in the last five years. While utilisation of private hospitals is now above pre-COVID levels, insurer benefits pay-out ratios are stuck at around 84 to 86.3 per cent, which is well below the pre-COVID 90 per cent benchmark and federal Minister for Health and Ageing's target. Rising operational costs, driven by wage increases, the cost of agency staff—of which there are many and a plethora in regional centres, I might point out—medical devices and inflation have not being matched by revenue growth. Private health insurance funds about 50 per cent of private hospital revenue, yet large insurers have significant market power in contract negotiations with hospitals, despite record profits. Private health insurers' failure to pass through adequate premium payouts to cover real costs is the core driver of private hospital distress, threatening the entire private-public balance. When the private system has less capacity, the public system bears the brunt. This circumstance and the failure of the health minister to act on it must be called out as part of the debate on this bill.

The coalition supports ensuring greater transparency in healthcare pricing and the need to help consumers make informed decisions about their health care and obtain better value from private health insurance. To ensure we preserve Australia's private health system, the coalition believes the legislation requires careful scrutiny through a Senate inquiry. Labor's reckless spending and economic mismanagement is pushing up costs across the board, and health care is another victim of that.

The out-of-pocket cost to see a GP skyrocketed to more than $50 under this government—the highest level on record. Out-of-pocket costs for specialist appointments are also spiralling out of control. According to the government's own most recent Medicare data for specialist attendances, the bulk-billing rate was 28.2 per cent, with an average out-of-pocket cost of $123.48. For anaesthetics, the bulk-billing rate was 8.7 per cent, with an average out-of-pocket cost of $244.99.

Australians are making the difficult decision to avoid seeing a doctor because they simply cannot afford it or wait two or three years. In rural, regional and remote Australia, delaying or avoiding treatment is particularly dangerous because we already have higher morbidity and mortality rates than metropolitan people. I have Mallee constituents who tell me they are avoiding treatment for lethal conditions because they cannot afford or bear the long, regular trips to a specialist–and forget paying for the petrol to get there.

One lady, a constituent from Kaniva, told me that under Labor's fuel supply crisis her local petrol station didn't have fuel, so she couldn't make it to her health appointment in Horsham. That's where the rubber hits the road under this government—or doesn't hit the road, you could say—on women's health in regional Australia: inaccessible health care and poorer health outcomes because of Labor's cost-of-living crisis.

Research conducted last year by Redbridge showed around 30 per cent of people referred to a medical specialist over the past three years did not attend, due to concerns about the cost. At the worst possible time, Labor is slugging Australians with higher private health insurance premiums while families are already struggling to pay their bills. Once again, we see the real impact of Labor's lies on Australian families. The Prime Minister waved around his Medicare card many, many times and told Australians it would be free to see a doctor. The truth is that Australians are now facing the highest out-of-pocket costs on record to see a doctor, which are only predicted to keep rising—if you can find a doctor in the regions. The coalition is focused on ensuring that all Australians have timely and affordable access to essential health care. In stark contrast, Labor is only focused on using Medicare as their political plaything.

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