‘Attacking old people’: Jane Hume slams Labor’s private health rebate cuts, warns of added pressure to public hospitals

Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume has accused Labor of making pensioners pay for its spending, as it moves ahead with plans to cut an additional private health insurance rebate for older Australians.

Under the proposed changes, Australians aged 65 and over would lose an additional top-up to the private health insurance rebate introduced by former prime minister John Howard in 2004.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Private health rebate cuts spark political standoff

The government claims the change would bring older Australians into line with younger policyholders on the same income, saving an estimated $3 billion to help fund aged care services.

Now the Greens have joined the Coalition in blocking the legislation and are demanding pensioners be exempt, a concession that could reduce the projected savings to less than half.

Hume warned the changes could force thousands of older Australians out of private health insurance and place further pressure on the public hospital system, arguing the government should look elsewhere for savings to fund aged care.

“There are other ways that you can fund this, Mark. You don’t have to go around attacking old people,” she told Sunrise on Friday.

“You could cut corporate welfare. You could cut the National Reconstruction Fund or subsidies to green hydrogen.

“You could cut the Net Zero Authority Agency and all the climate bureaucracy that goes around subsidising EVs, something the market is already doing on its own.

“Or you could cut the National Housing Future Fund, which is, let’s face it, not building the houses we need. It’s simply giving subsidies to big international corporation.”

Hume warned the changes could make private health insurance more expensive for older Australians who had paid for their own cover throughout their working lives.

“There are so many places you can find money; you can find savings,” she said.

“Why would you rip it away from pensioners? Why would you rip it away from old people that have funded their own private health insurance all of their lives? And now, when they need it the most, you’re making it more expensive for them,” she said.

Hume warned the proposal could shift costs from the private health system to taxpayers, arguing the government’s projected savings could come at the expense of public hospitals.