Lay off cuts to aged care funding: Haines

Independent MP for Indi Helen Haines has come out in support of National Seniors Australia CEO Chris Grice urging the federal government not to cut the health insurance rebate for older Australians. Mr Grice the $1.4 billion in savings identified by the Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher in the 2025/26 Final Budget outcome unspent money that had previously been approved for aged care "In a time when there is insufficient funds to support vulnerable older Australians with Support at Home packages rationed, increasing numbers of older Australians awaiting Support at Home Services, and thousands more stranded in public hospitals – how does the Aged Care Minister Sam Rae allow $1.4 billion of approved funding for aged care be returned to Treasury as savings?" he said. National Seniors Australia (NSA) believes the $1.4 billion in savings could have been invested in showers and personal care delivered through the Support at Home program, instead of taking from the pockets of older Australians (1.2 million estimated to be pensioners) with Private Health Insurance (PHI) – many of whom have paid into private health for four, five, up to six decades. Dr Haines said she supported properly funding aged care, particularly in regional communities where people are waiting too long for care. "But I don’t think the answer is asking pensioners to pay more for their private health insurance," she said. “Parliamentary Budget Office modelling shows around half of the savings from the government’s proposed rebate changes will come from age pensioners, while the highest earners won’t be affected at all. "For people in Indi already dealing with the rising cost of groceries, fuel and household bills, another few hundred dollars a year could be the difference between keeping their private health insurance and dropping or downgrading their cover. “Our public hospitals are already under pressure, and regional Australians have fewer alternatives when they need care. "We need to invest in aged care, but we shouldn’t be doing it by asking older Australians to pay more.”

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