Some high earners have private health insurance because they received a government rebate for doing so. This contributed to a rise in private health insurance participation to around 46% of the overall population. The Labor Government has passed legislation which will means-test the rebate and see a portion of those people re-enter the public system.

A decade of the Liberal Party in power definitely saw Australia’s health care system become more two-tiered. The rich were encouraged to purchase private health insurance to cut costs to Medicare, creating a segment of Australian society with more exceptional health care, while Australians who rely solely on Medicare just had to deal with funding cuts under a conservative government. In many ways having private health insurance has become a status symbol for some Australians. I have young, healthy friends who have private health insurance for no other reason than to say they have it. Medicare is more than sufficient for them.

Australia’s Medicare is exceptionally good, a fact that you come to appreciate more when you travel overseas. Australians will always complain about the flaws in our health care system, but that’s a very good thing as it forces our government to keep funding one of the best health care systems in the world.