The wellbeing of the nation’s health care system was the crux for Independent Lyne MP Rob Oakeshott’s decision to support the means testing of private health insurance rebates, he said. Speaking in Parliament last week, Mr Oakeshott said his job as a public policy maker was to consider the evidence, not political rhetoric, on the effects of means testing taxpayer-funded rebates on private health insurance. “This is a hard call if we think of the individuals and the personal anecdotes of those who might be directly affected by this decision,” Mr Oakeshott said. “But if we think of Australia, and the long-term best use of taxpayers’ money, it is a very easy call. “The most compelling reason to support means testing of health insurance rebates is the current reality of unsustainable healthcare economics in Australia, and the reality that this measure completely blows the health budget of Australia if it is not changed sometime in the next decade.” Mr Oakeshott said the other compelling reason to support means testing came from Ramsay Health Care’s executive management. “In separating political commentary and populist rhetoric from what has been said to investors and the sharemarket under legal obligations, it is clear that even the greatest critics of means testing don’t actually believe their own rhetoric,” Mr Oakeshott said. “Ramsay Health Care in Port Macquarie is threatening to pull a $20 million expansion of their hospital, they are threatening staff that jobs will go, and they are contacting consumers saying this Bill will be detrimental to their service delivery. “However, when this is checked against their legal obligations in reporting to the sharemarket, it’s a different story. The ASX statement on August 25 from Australia’s largest private health operator reports a 23.6 per cent rise in full year core net profit, an after-tax profit of $198.4 million. “The statement indicates this result was driven mainly by strong performance across Ramsay’s Australian hospitals, which includes Port Macquarie.
