SENATOR THE HON ANNE RUSTON

SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE

DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE

SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA

MEDIA RELEASE

Wednesday 23 September 2026

“KICK IN THE TEETH”: DOCTORS AND PENSIONERS SLAM LABOR’S PRIVATE HEALTH CUTS

Pensioners and Australia's leading medical specialists have together urged the Albanese Government to scrap its plan to axe the higher private health insurance rebate for older Australians.

Radiologists, oncologists, obstetricians, gynaecologists, vascular surgeons and reconstructive plastic surgeons have all delivered the same warning that this cut will hurt patients.

Representatives from five specialist bodies told a Senate committee in Perth that the change would delay care and leave older Australians in pain and living with disability and warned it would pile more pressure on overstretched public hospitals.

The warnings came from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Australian and New Zealand Society for Vascular Surgery, Private Cancer Physicians of Australia and the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care, Senator Anne Ruston, said Labor's cuts the rebate older Australians receive - from 28 to 24 per cent for those aged 65 to 69 and from 32 to 24 per cent for those aged 70 and over – had been roundly condemned.

"These are the doctors who scan, diagnose and treat cancer. They repair aneurysms and blocked arteries. They rebuild patients after breast cancer, skin cancer and burns," Senator Ruston said.

"When the specialists who treat cancer and repair failing arteries all say this cut will hurt patients, the Government must listen.

"Older Australians who drop their cover will not stop needing scans, chemotherapy or surgery. They will simply join the back of the public hospital queue.

"Delayed care means more pain, more disability and more pressure on public hospitals already at breaking point."

Health Department officials giving evidence could not explain the discrepancy between their estimate that 1.2 million pensioners would be hit by the cut and the Parliamentary Budget Office estimate that it was more than 1.5 million but they conceded the Government did not hold an accurate number.

A lived experience panel of older Australians also urged the Albanese Government to scrap its plan describing it as a "kick in the teeth and a slap in the face".

70-year-old pensioner Joanne, who lives with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, already works part-time to keep up with the cost of living. Joanne said private health insurance is already one of her largest expenses and she fears the rebate cut would force her to drop private her cover.

"I would absolutely be devastated if I had to drop my private health insurance. It's hard to fathom how penalising people over 65 at a time when they need their health insurance the most is in the best interest of the people, the economy or the public health system," Joanne told the committee.

Senator Ruston said: "This is an $11 billion tax grab dressed up as reform. It will not save money. It will shift the cost to the states and onto the shoulders of older Australians. The Coalition will fight to block these callous cuts in the Senate."

ENDS

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