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Australia Presses Ahead With $3 Billion Health Rebate Change Despite State Opposition

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Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of a hospital bed in a clinical ward with a silhouetted staff member walking past and a blue chair visible through the doorway, rendered in warm ochre and slate-blue pastel strokes.

Australia will proceed with its private-health rebate change, federal Health Minister Mark Butler said Friday after meeting state and territory counterparts in Sydney. He said the change would equalize taxpayer support for households on the same income regardless of age, while acknowledging higher costs for people over 65. Butler said the measure would save $3 billion for aged-care beds and asked opponents where else that funding should come from. Government modelling projects about 44,000 people may leave private insurance; Butler cited University of Melbourne estimates of 12,000 to 41,000 and said Australia needs roughly 10,500 new aged-care beds annually for 20 years.

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