Many citizens have long held private health insurance and would be alarmed by the proposal, currently before the parliament, to remove the Medicare surcharge rebate they receive in exchange for carrying the cost of private health insurance.
The rebate, first introduced in 1998, was designed to take pressure off the public hospital system. Later was added the ‘delay-penalty’ provisions whereby once a person reached 31 years of age and delayed in taking out private cover there was effectively a tax penalty for not acting (by having to pay an amount of surcharge).
Many of us have been long-term contributors to private cover… because we were encouraged that the medical system as we know it, despite its imperfect nature, is still delivering very good health care. Such people understandably would have a very jaundiced view of having their historical financial support of the health system now undermined.
So I’m of the view that it’s not just the pensioners (as the Australian Greens propose) that should be entitled to continuation of the rebate if they maintain private cover but anybody who meets the requirements to qualify, and especially those that have paid high yearly private health insurance over many years.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
