Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the House) | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question, which is a question I've answered before in this place since the budget. As I've said on a number of occasions publicly and in this chamber, the additional support that over-65s have received since about 2004 for their private health insurance premium is something we did revisit given the significant pressure on our aged-care system and the need to find additional funding to deal with the demand that has been the subject of some discussion in this parliament over the course of this week.

Let's be clear: the additional premium on the rebate has meant that households next to each other on exactly the same income have been receiving a different level of support for their private health insurance based solely on their age.

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