Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health Administration) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, taking you at your word, can you guarantee that private health insurance premiums will not go up as a result of this measure? Can you provide, here and now to the Senate and to the Australian people—to the one million people on incomes of less than $50,000 who have private health insurance—a guarantee on behalf of your government that health insurance premiums will not go up? Whatever you are saying, Treasury officials told the inquiry and Health officials told the inquiry that any impact in terms of future premium growth as a result of this measure will be covered out of the contingency reserve. That is black and white in the Treasury submission to the inquiry. It is black and white in the evidence that was provided. If you are now coming here and trying to play some political game and not taking those questions seriously—questions about things that have a serious impact, particularly on the vulnerable in our community who will continue to take out private health insurance—then, quite frankly, you should not be dealing with this legislation.