ID :
20850
Tue, 09/23/2008 - 22:47
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/20850
The shortlink copeid
Medicare bill concessions not backed
The Rudd government has yet to convince balance-of-power senators to support its Medicare levy surcharge bill despite buckling to some of their demands. The government wanted to lift the income levels at which the Medicare levy surcharge (MLS) kicks in for people who don't have private health insurance from $50,000 to $100,000 for singles, and $100,000 to $150,000 for couples.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon on Tuesday announced the government would lower the singles threshold to $75,000 after discussions with senators and the industry. The thresholds will also be indexed to average earnings rather than inflation. Treasury projections indicate that even after the lowering of the singles threshold to $75,000, about 583,000 people will dump private health insurance. The changes won over the Australian Greens, but the government is yet to secure the necessary support of independent Senator Nick Xenophon or Family First's Steve Fielding.
New opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton said the coalition would still vote against the bill, despite the government's changes.
"The Rudd government has today announced a change to their Medicare levy surcharge thresholds, an acknowledgment that they were wrong," Mr Dutton said. "The government's original plans would have seen up to one million people leave private health insurance, putting pressure on public hospitals and forcing premium prices to rise.
"Their new levels do nothing to stop this from happening."
Senator Xenophon said he was still unhappy with the bill and maintained fairer thresholds should be indexed to inflation, putting them somewhere between $67,000 and $69,000 for singles and $132,000 for couples. "It's not a done deal yet," he told AAP.
Senator Fielding said he was continuing to talk with the government about the need to compensate low income earners, whom he said would be hit by higher private health insurance premiums as a result of the changes. "People like pensioners are going to be hit with a health insurance premium increase," he told AAP. "If pensioners knew they were going to be hit with an extra cost in their health insurance they would be jumping up and down."
Greens health spokeswoman Rachel Siewert said the government had indicated it would agree to an independent review of the impacts of the new thresholds. "We're reluctantly accepting the new thresholds," she said. "The fairest outcome would be to remove the Medicare levy surcharge altogether so that all Australians had the same choice about private health insurance."
Ms Roxon said hundreds of thousands of people would receive immediate tax relief as a result of the revised threshold changes. "True, it is not as many as we would have liked to have delivered relief to, but the position of the Liberals and of the Senate means that, if this proposal were accepted, 330,000 families would nevertheless be beneficiaries of this measure," she told parliament. "It is a pragmatic response following a Senate inquiry and much consultation."
If the government's revised MLS changes get eventually pass the Senate, people earning between $75,000 and $100,000 who have already dropped private health insurance would not be disadvantaged. As long as those people obtained private health cover before January 1 next year, they would avoid the Medicare levy surcharge between July 1 and December 31, 2008. Debate on the MLS bill is due to resume in the Senate Tuesday night.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon on Tuesday announced the government would lower the singles threshold to $75,000 after discussions with senators and the industry. The thresholds will also be indexed to average earnings rather than inflation. Treasury projections indicate that even after the lowering of the singles threshold to $75,000, about 583,000 people will dump private health insurance. The changes won over the Australian Greens, but the government is yet to secure the necessary support of independent Senator Nick Xenophon or Family First's Steve Fielding.
New opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton said the coalition would still vote against the bill, despite the government's changes.
"The Rudd government has today announced a change to their Medicare levy surcharge thresholds, an acknowledgment that they were wrong," Mr Dutton said. "The government's original plans would have seen up to one million people leave private health insurance, putting pressure on public hospitals and forcing premium prices to rise.
"Their new levels do nothing to stop this from happening."
Senator Xenophon said he was still unhappy with the bill and maintained fairer thresholds should be indexed to inflation, putting them somewhere between $67,000 and $69,000 for singles and $132,000 for couples. "It's not a done deal yet," he told AAP.
Senator Fielding said he was continuing to talk with the government about the need to compensate low income earners, whom he said would be hit by higher private health insurance premiums as a result of the changes. "People like pensioners are going to be hit with a health insurance premium increase," he told AAP. "If pensioners knew they were going to be hit with an extra cost in their health insurance they would be jumping up and down."
Greens health spokeswoman Rachel Siewert said the government had indicated it would agree to an independent review of the impacts of the new thresholds. "We're reluctantly accepting the new thresholds," she said. "The fairest outcome would be to remove the Medicare levy surcharge altogether so that all Australians had the same choice about private health insurance."
Ms Roxon said hundreds of thousands of people would receive immediate tax relief as a result of the revised threshold changes. "True, it is not as many as we would have liked to have delivered relief to, but the position of the Liberals and of the Senate means that, if this proposal were accepted, 330,000 families would nevertheless be beneficiaries of this measure," she told parliament. "It is a pragmatic response following a Senate inquiry and much consultation."
If the government's revised MLS changes get eventually pass the Senate, people earning between $75,000 and $100,000 who have already dropped private health insurance would not be disadvantaged. As long as those people obtained private health cover before January 1 next year, they would avoid the Medicare levy surcharge between July 1 and December 31, 2008. Debate on the MLS bill is due to resume in the Senate Tuesday night.
