{"id":927887,"date":"2026-10-14T13:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T13:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/927887\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T13:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T13:46:18","slug":"labors-bill-to-cut-private-health-insurance-rebate-blocked-by-greens-over-pensioner-carve-out-australian-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/927887\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor\u2019s bill to cut private health insurance rebate blocked by Greens over pensioner carve-out | Australian politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Labor\u2019s bid to cut the private health insurance rebate for over-65s has been blocked in parliament, with the Greens insisting they will withhold support unless pensioners receive a carve-out from the new rules.<\/p>\n

The proposed changes, which would take effect from April 2027, would save the federal budget $3bn.<\/p>\n

It marks another defeat for a key cost-saving measure after the government was forced to back down on its plan to cap allied health payments for veterans which would have saved $748m over three years.<\/p>\n

People who are 65 or over currently receive a larger rebate on their premium, with the rebate higher for those 70 and over.<\/p>\n

The Greens, Coalition and crossbench senators teamed up in the Senate on Wednesday to block Labor\u2019s bill. In a rare move, the bill was discharged from the upper house, meaning it will need to be reintroduced if Labor tries to push ahead.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

The health minister, Mark Butler, said the government planned to reintroduce the same bill to parliament on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important that the parliament have a proper debate, that these really important questions for older Australians are not held hostage to political stunts, but instead that the elected members of the House of Representatives and elected senators take these issues seriously and debate them properly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Almost 80,000 older Australians are expected to ditch their private health cover by 2028-29 as a result of the Albanese government\u2019s proposal, according to health department modelling released under freedom of information laws.<\/p>\n

The Greens leader, David Shoebridge, said the party would only offer its support for the changes if the government excluded pensioners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe say to Labor, if you want to bring this bill back \u2026 [by] carving out 1.2 million pensioners from this attack \u2026 come and talk to us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will pass it in a heartbeat. But we will not be joining with Labor to punch down on pensioners in the middle of a cost of living crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butler said the new Greens leadership \u201cspied a political opportunity\u201d to team up with the Coalition.<\/p>\n

The chief executive of the Council on the Ageing Australia, Patricia Sparrow, rejected the planned savings being linked to aged care funding commitments.<\/p>\n

\u201cOlder Australians shouldn\u2019t have to choose between protecting their health and paying for everyday essentials. Nor should they be asked to choose between affordable healthcare and a properly funded aged care system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, said the policy would have affected up to 1.5 million pensioners.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter |When needed<\/p>\n

Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n

Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that a government would have to cut the health system to need to pay for the aged care system \u2026 just reflects the fact of how much this government has lost control of their budget bottom line,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The proposal has been criticised by the states and territories, which warn their health services will come under increasing pressure.<\/p>\n

The Victorian health minister, Ingrid Stitt, said she had raised concerns with Butler, vowing to oppose \u201cany move that makes it harder for Victorians to get the care they need\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny commonwealth savings shouldn\u2019t come at the expense of older Victorians or simply shift pressure on to our public hospitals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The New South Wales health minister, Ryan Park, said the state was already experiencing \u201csignificant pressure\u201d on its public health system due to the commonwealth\u2019s failure to provide sufficient aged care placements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not good for [the aged] and they deserve better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Queensland health minister, Tim Nicholls, said the \u201cadditional pressure will come at the expense of the thousands of older Australians already stuck in hospitals right across the country\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Tasmanian health minister, Bridget Archer, said the federal government was \u201calready refusing to provide solutions to get aged care patients out of hospital and this dog of a policy will make things even worse\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Labor\u2019s bid to cut the private health insurance rebate for over-65s has been blocked in parliament, with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":927888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-927887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}