HEALTH INSURANCE HIKE ANOTHER HIT TO FAMILIES

The Coalition has again shown its complete lack of concern for struggling families by approving another massive private health insurance premium hike.
 
Today’s 5.59 per cent rise is more than three times the inflation rate, and will add around $200 to the cost of annual premiums for family hospital cover.
 
That takes the total increase under the Abbott-Turnbull Government to around $600 after the Coalition approved the two highest increases in a decade in 2014 and 2015.
 
The increase is also, for the third year in a row, higher than the average annual increase during Labor’s six years in office.
 
Today’s increase exposes as a lie the Government’s claim that the privatisation of Medibank would put downward pressure on premiums. Instead, after announcing a record profit of $227 million last month, Medibank has again exceeded the average rise, driving up the overall cost of premiums.
 
These successive huge rises are yet another slap in the face for families from a Government determined to do anything it can to shift costs on to consumers.
 
This is a Government which has just ripped another $650 million from Medicare by cutting bulk billing incentives, on the back of $2 billion in cuts to GP rebates.
 
At the same time it has also slashed more than $57 billion from public hospitals, and is telling states their hospitals can survive on funding increases tied to inflation and population while forcing families to pay triple the inflation rate for health insurance.