Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A week ago I was doing my listening post run. I was in a small town called Derrinallum, a lovely rural little community full of wonderful volunteers who gel and bring the community together for various things. This lovely old lady came up to me and said, 'I'd like to raise an issue with you.' I said, 'Yes?' She said, 'Well, me and my husband—I'm on a pension, he was on the pension, but we've always had private health insurance.' She said: 'Sadly, my husband died not so long ago of cancer, and I've got serious health issues myself. Obviously, I want to make sure I can keep my private health insurance, but the government, as I understand it, has made changes to the way the rebate works for those over 65. Can you tell me what the cost impact of those changes to the rebate will be? I'm deeply concerned now—with the cost of living and how much I'm paying at the supermarket, my gas bill, my electricity bill—whether I'm going to be able to afford my private health insurance going forward. It's something that I know I need because I've got to get medical treatment the whole time. Does the government and the Prime Minister really understand how hard it is for someone on a pension, who's facing serious illness, to be able to keep their private health insurance? As you know, living in the country, it's not always easy to access the types of services for the disease that I'm dealing with. Do you think that they understand that and that you often have to travel? With what's happened with the cost of fuel going up and the cost of having to travel to see a doctor, do you think there's any real understanding of the pressures they're putting on someone like me? If we didn't have private health insurance, we would never have been able to care for my husband in the way that we did. I want to make sure that I can care for myself and look after myself, and I want to be able to get the best medical treatment that I can, to deal with the illness that I'm dealing with.'

I say to the Prime Minister: would you please think about the impact that your changes to private health are having on people? When you stand up in the parliament and you're asked a question about this, do not deny to people that you are actually changing private health insurance.