Health insurance websites in Australia are facing a dramatic reduction in their prices after the Federal Government announced it would slash the amount that people could be charged.
The cost of health insurance is set to be reduced by up to 40 per cent, from $14,000 a year to $8,000, under a new price cap announced on Wednesday.
The announcement comes after the government announced a reduction in the price of the Medicare levy, which will be rolled out from October.
This will mean that consumers will be able to access the same level of coverage that they currently get for around $1,100 a year.
The changes come as the cost of online health insurance continues to rise.
This month, the price tag of a standard Medicare plan was increased by about $300 per month, or about 20 per cent.
The cap is set at $8000 per year and is expected to be rolled into other policies from September.
A study conducted by consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that people earning $150,000 or more a year would be able buy a single-person plan for $1.08 million, which would cover them for 12 months.
The plan would be paid off in three years.
The price of a similar plan in 2019 would be about $1 million, according to the report.
However, this figure has been put at $800 per month because the cap is in place for the next two years.
This is because the Government will be providing an extra $1 billion to cover costs in the future.
The report also showed that a person earning $1million a year could have access to a Medicare plan of $1 per day.
The Government said the new cost cap would save the budget around $300 million over the next three years, but analysts warned it could not be sustained.
This means that consumers are likely to have to pay more, with some people having to make up the difference.
It comes as Health Minister Peter Dutton told Parliament that the Government was “working with insurers and other stakeholders” to make sure people could access the new plan at a reasonable price.
The new cap will come into effect on September 1.
This follows the announcement of a 25 per cent Medicare levy cut last month, which is expected come into force on October 1.
The move was expected to save the Government around $700 million a year by 2019.
This included a reduction of $300 in the Medicare rebate that people were entitled to, which was a hit to the economy.
There are fears that people will be forced to pay a higher price to get the same coverage, or face higher out-of-pocket costs.
This would be particularly bad for those in rural areas.
The Federal Government has been pushing for the Medicare Levy to be cut as part of a wider plan to save around $4 billion a year through 2021.
In an interview with ABC Radio Melbourne, Mr Dutton said the plan would “put us back to where we were” with the $3.7 billion cost of Medicare in 2021.
This comes as Mr Duxford said that the government was “absolutely committed” to making sure Australians could access affordable health care.
He said that it was a “moral obligation” for people to have the same standard of health care as the rest of the population.
“What we’re saying is we’re going to take the money that people have been paying for this government’s health care system and we’re cutting it, and it’s a moral obligation that we’re not going to let that happen,” he said.
The health minister said that people would be paying more than before, with the Government’s new cost caps being a “direct hit” on the economy as a whole.