Federal Budget: Stay at home Aussies can stay on parent’s health plan for longer
Young Australians will be able to stay on their parents’ private health insurance longer under a measure designed to prop up ailing health funds.
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Young Australians will be able to stay on their parents’ private health insurance until they turn 31 under a measure designed to prop up ailing health funds.
The current scheme cuts off when a person turns 24, but young adults who can prove they are still dependent on their parents can continue to be covered.
In the past five years the proportion of 25-29 year olds in health funds has dropped by eight per cent while the number of more expensive older people insured has leapt by two per cent.
As health fund profits plunge and membership drops to its lowest level in decades, insurers will be able save money by funding mental health and rehabilitation care services outside hospital and in a patient’s own home.
But the measures on health insurance fall well short of the major reforms the insurers and doctors have been calling for.
The government has again failed to honour its 2013 promise to lift the tax rebate for health cover from 25 to 30 per cent of premiums.
There are no changes that would make older Australians pay a higher penalty if they delay joining a fund until old age then claim tens of thousands of dollars in benefits.
“The private health system accounts for about 60 per cent of our elective surgery. Without a strong private system, our public system cannot stay afloat,” Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid warned.
As mental distress caused by COVID-19 rises, the number of Medicare funded mental health consultations accessible to Australians will double from 10 to 20 over the next two years.
Currently the extra mental health consultations are only available to people in COVID lockdown, now all Australians will be able to take advantage of the measure.
“The Government recognises that the 2019–20 bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly affected the mental health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities. Through this Budget, we are continuing to ensure that support is available,” Health Minister Greg Hunt said.
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A major new drug subsidy will see women suffering from ovarian cancer gain access to a high cost $140,000 treatment Lynparza for just $41.
Ovarian cancer is hard to diagnose and as a result is one of the most deadly cancers with few treatment options.
Mr Hunt said an average of 300 patients per year will benefit from the subsidy.
A series of recent medical device disasters involving surgical mesh, cancer causing breast implants and the faulty de Puy hip replacement exposed how patients were unable to tell whether they had been given defective implants.
From 2024 a new tracking system will enhance the ability for doctors to notify patients quickly if there is a safety issue.
“The system is an Australian first and will allow tracking and tracing of medical devices that have been implanted in patients,” Mr Hunt said.
A similar identification code will be introduced for medicines packs in a bid to crack down on counterfeit drugs.
There is currently a shortage of over 480 medicines in Australia and supply chains have been severely disrupted as a result of COVID-19, this new identification code will help manage these shortages.
The government also announced 135 people born with missing limbs and other health problems as a result of morning sickness drug thalidomide will be eligible for a series of government support payments.
This includes a one off lump sum payment of up to $500,000, an annual payment and extraordinary assistance for medical care or equipment. The size of the payments will depend on the level of their disability.
Five million Australians suffer from debilitating migraines which costs the health system $14.3 billion a year and one in ten sufferers go on to develop medication overuse headaches.
The government will spend $600,000 to improve awareness and management of the condition.
The budget contains already announced funding for a COVID-19 vaccine, money for Covid tests, hospital care, respiratory clinics and telehealth.
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