Agreement reached to pass Medicare bill
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Nicola Roxon ... 'We have taken seriously concerns raised by the Senate and the public' (ABC News)
The Government has agreed to Independent Senator Nick Xenophon's demands to make changes to the Medicare levy surcharge threshold bill.
The Government will now revise the threshold down from its proposed $75,000 for singles to $70,000, and from $150,000 to $140,000 for couples.
It originally wanted to raise the threshold of the levy from $50,000 to $100,000 for singles and from $100,000 to $150,000 for couples.
But Senator Xenophon wanted the threshold for singles to be set at $69,000 and yesterday said he would not pass the bill.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon says the Government is pleased it has been able to reach an agreement with Senator Xenophon and the Greens.
"I am very pleased with the constructive way the minor parties have conducted themselves during this debate," she said.
"There is a lot of common ground between the three of us and the groups we represent.
"We have taken seriously the concerns raised both by the Senate and also the public to make sure we can get the balance right between providing relief, establishing fairness into the future and also making sure that we are cautious about the tipping point ... between people being encouraged to move in and out of private health insurance."
Ms Roxon said the changes will help 250,000 Australians with tax relief immediately.
The Government has also agreed to allow a Productivity Commission Inquiry into the health system which was also another of Senator Xenophon's demands.
"It shows with good will with negotiation you can work through the issue," he said.
The threshold will also be indexed, which was a measure the Greens were pushing for.
Greens Senator Rachel Siewert says they are pleased with the outcome.
"The Greens were very keen to ensure this mechanism was indexed," she said.
"That was a particularly important outcome that we've managed to negotiate with the Government.
"We're also extremely pleased that the Government has assured us there will be no negative impact on the public hospital system and have accepted our amendment to ensure a review is in place."
The Government needs all the votes of the five Greens, Senator Xenophon and Family First Senator Steve Fielding to pass the bill without the support of the Opposition.
Senator Fielding has already agreed to pass the bill, which is one of the key pieces of the Government's Budget legislation.
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Comments (14)
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vicr:
16 Oct 2008 1:42:23pm
It is great to have one person dictate policy when a Government was put in to govern. I think the senate does not reflect the original intent for its being. It is now too party political rather than being in the interests of the individual states.
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Dave:
16 Oct 2008 3:13:16pm
What about all the other Senators that voted against it?? He had no more control of this legislation than any other senator.
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ElBarto:
16 Oct 2008 1:49:46pm
Who was Senator Xenophon representing?
His electorate or the interest of health insurence companies....Agree (0) Alert moderator
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Dave:
16 Oct 2008 3:12:33pm
Technically he represents his electorate. But since his vote was the difference between this getting through or not, you could say he was representing half the electorate.
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gab of Elwood:
16 Oct 2008 2:01:50pm
The whole reason the healths system needs reforming is to improve and expand the theraputic services provided to the Australian people. It's the outcomes that matter, not so much the process of getting where we need to be to tackle the strains placed on healthcare by an ageing population - the strucutral adjustment swe have to make to move from treating acute to chronic issues.
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Doh:
16 Oct 2008 2:10:03pm
The experience of negotiating changes to its legislation will do it good.
The attitude expressed by several senior government figures that 'you are either with us or against us' really needs to be replaced by a more responsible approach embodied in such negotiation.
More policy discussion can only make for better government. In time the government may learn the true meaning of bipartisanship.Agree (0) Alert moderator
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WA Person:
16 Oct 2008 2:16:47pm
It is simple.
The senate should be scrapped.
It is simply malicious and a big scam, wasting thousands of millions of dollars of taxpayers money, with the wilful damage that it does to the country.
The australian senate reminds me of the saying; "save fuel - burn a politician".Agree (0) Alert moderator
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in for a penny:
16 Oct 2008 3:20:06pm
now, that's an idea I like, as a Queenslander i see the state govern according to its mandate, if they get it wrong - well out they go. There is no time for a Senate in Australia, expensive time wasters, and just what do they review anyway, their egos probably.
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Emma:
16 Oct 2008 2:25:01pm
I am one of millions of Australians who will be relieved this deeply unfair policy has been changed.
For years, people who did not need private health insurance and were also not a burden on the public system on comparatively low wages have been forced to subsidize the obscenely wealthy, uncompetitive private health sector. And all because they were mates of Howard and he wanted to dismantle our public health system and allow the profoundly bankrupt and worthless American system of healthcare to take hold here.
The private hospital system offers very, very little value for money and they refuse to deal with most patients for fear of being sued - they are more than happy to palm them back to the public system when it all gets too difficult - after taking your money first of course.
Like many people, I was forced to take out a policy that offered me very little to avoid the tax slug. I took out the minimum and claimed the odd pair of prescription glasses. I have not met one Australian that ever thought they got a good deal out of their health premiums. Premiums soared long before Rudd proposed this reform and the profits of these private companies are all thanks to tax payer subsidies.
I couldn't believe it when I heard Nick Xenophon saying on AM that he agreed with terms and conditions to curb banking executive greed and then saying he was happy for Australian tax-payers to pay the executive bonuses for those in the private health system by continuing this extraordinarily bad policy. What hypocrisy Xenophon.
Read the papers: tax payers are sick of propping up the inefficient private sector - if they can't survive without hand-outs then we want our money to go to making a public health system - free and fair for all.Agree (0) Alert moderator
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spud:
16 Oct 2008 2:56:20pm
What a heap of rubbish. Forced to take out private health insurance indeed! Well dump it a join the queue. That will cost you nothing; except to pay for all of those ahead of you to get treatment first (LOL). Pity those of us responsible enough to meet our own costs have to pay for both you and the rest of the queue as well.
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Bill:
16 Oct 2008 3:10:41pm
The thing with insurance is that it will always look like you aren't getting anything out of it until you actually need it. Would you get rid of your car insurance? Your travel insurance? How about your home insurance? No?
So why get rid of your health insurance?
Maybe I'll be the first to say to you, I think I am getting good value out of my insurance. Mine is about $100 a month. For this I get all the extras but have a hospital excess of $500. I'm young enough so hospital isn't a big worry at this point in my life. At the very least I go to the chiro once a month so this saves me about $35. Plus I get savings on whatever I buy at a particular chemist (about another $10 a month). Dentist at least twice a year (save over $100 a visit). Got my wisdom teeth out last year (even after paying the $500 hospital excess it still saved me over $1200 (equivalent to one year of private cover).
Sure I won't need my wisdom teeth out every year. But the savings start to add up to the point where it really isn't that expensive to have private health. And as I pointed out earlier you don't get insurance intending on using it. You get it in case you need it. I take comfort in knowing if I need surgery any surgery I could probably get it in the next month or two, unlike the public system where I could wait a year or two.Agree (0) Alert moderator
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Smee:
16 Oct 2008 2:48:55pm
It kind of shows how some corporations own some politicians, especially with the influence exerted on the decision making, by the health insurance companies, as shown by the report of the senate passing the bill amended to benefit the health insurance companies.
Hopefully, now the federal government will divert unused rebates for private health insurance, into the public health system, so that australia can start to have a public health system, instead of forcing taxpayers to pay for healthcare for which they already pay taxes.Agree (0) Alert moderator
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ribald:
16 Oct 2008 3:03:23pm
hopefully, in the next senate election, xenophon & fielding will lose their seats. at least the democrats acted on behalf of the voting public and not business interests and evangelical churches. meg lees being the exception.
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Dave:
16 Oct 2008 3:17:01pm
This government is a joke.
My wife and I are on a combined $110,000.
We bought our house last year, so our mortgage isn't exactly cheap and we can easily afford private health. If you can't work your budget enough to afford private health at $120, $130K etc...then you need to seriously consider where you are spending your money and get help with your budget immediately.
So the government thinks that I am too poor to afford private health, but I don't get any of the money that is being thrown around to encourage spending. I could spend the $1000 just as easily as the pensioners and those with kids.Agree (0) Alert moderator
