Labor vows to reintroduce health insurance reforms after Senate defeat

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 14 Oct, 08:32 · Archive

Australia's Senate has defeated Labor's bill to reform private health insurance rebates for older Australians. The Coalition, Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie, the Greens and the crossbench voted 38 to 23 on Wednesday afternoon to remove the bill from the notice paper. Labor has vowed to reintroduce the reforms on Thursday regardless.

The Private Health Insurance Amendment (Modernising the Private Health Insurance Rebate) Bill 2026 would have removed the age-based rebate for Australians aged 65 and over, instead aligning the rebate with individual or family incomes. The Coalition said this would have raised private health insurance premiums by about $800 for an individual or $1,600 for a couple for more than three million older Australians.

Opposition health spokesperson Anne Ruston said the bill could 'no longer go forward' and had been relegated to the 'dust bin'. She said the reforms would have seen the government 'cut the health system in order to pay for the aged care system', referring to the $3 billion the government had pledged to raise for more aged care beds. Senator Lambie told the government to 'get more aged care beds'.

How it is being reported

• Labor vows to reintroduce health insurance reforms after Senate defeatLabor has vowed to fight on after a bill to reform health insurance premiums was relegated to the “dust bin”.Perth Now · 14 Oct, 08:00
• Labor vows to reintroduce health insurance reforms after Senate defeatLabor has vowed to fight on after a bill to reform health insurance premiums was relegated to the “dust bin”.The West Australian · 14 Oct, 07:59

In this story: Labor · Coalition · Jacqui Lambie · Greens · Anne Ruston · Australia

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