This month I heard from a 66-year-old widow I'll call Margie, who lives in Eumungerie in the electorate of Parkes. Margie lost her husband 16 years ago and is on a pension. When this couple were married in 1979, they took out private health insurance to prepare them for this day, nearly 50 years later, when one or both of them might need assistance. Now, Margie finds that, after decades of paying the ever-increasing cost of private health insurance, this Albanese Labor government have seen fit to cut the private health rebate for those over the age of 65. It's yet another kick at those who can least afford it, in this case a widower pensioner who is 66 and lives in a small regional town in New South Wales. Margie is joined in her frustration by other people over the age of 65 in this country who pay private health insurance to take responsibility for their own costs. This is their reward. The cost of everything—and we mean everything: basic groceries, electricity, fuel—is going up and up and up with no end in sight. All we hear in this place are excuses. If only Margie and every other Australian over 65, along with every other Australian who needs to pay their bills, who needs to eat and have a roof over their head, could pay their bills with this government's excuses.