Plan to ease private health insurance premiums in the New England Electorate

21 Oct 2016

The Deputy Prime Minister and Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce said the Coalition Government will reduce the cost of thousands of medical devices ranging from pacemakers and lenses to knees and hips by half-a-billion dollars to take pressure off private health insurance premiums for Australians.

 

Mr Joyce welcomed reforms to regulations that have seen the cost of some medical devices inflated by thousands of dollars for private patients, which they pay for through higher premiums. 

 

He said the Coalition Government’s action was good news for private health consumers in the New England Electorate and the onus was now on private health insurers to pass on lower premium increases to their customers from next year.

 

“The Turnbull-Joyce Government is a Government that has consulted, listened and acted on prostheses to deliver balanced reforms to ensure we keep private health insurance affordable while maintaining full patient access to medical devices,” Mr Joyce said.

 

“Constituents in the New England have made it clear to me that they don’t feel they are getting the best deal from their health funds.

 

“Unlike Labor, we have a plan to ensure consumers receive better value from their private health insurance and today’s announcement is a clear and decisive down payment on further reforms.”

 

The Government’s prostheses reforms provide private health insurers with certainty over a reduction in their costs on medical devices to the tune of half-a-billion dollars over the next six years.

 

Prostheses reforms are just one part of the Turnbull-Joyce Government’s wider reforms to Private Health Insurance which includes our election commitments to deliver consumers better value for money by weeding out junk policies and simplifying policies so it’s easier to shop around.

 

 

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