Back around the time the health minister took the unethical stance to try and force persons to join private health funds, there was a penalty imposed if you didn’t.

At the time I had my wife in a private fund because being a woman she may have needed sensitive surgery and a private room.

At this time I was a healthy non-smoking, non-drinking man and I didn’t need to be in a private health fund. I paid my $600 a year for the Medicare Levy and from then until I retired, I only used it once. But I saved a lot of money from being healthy and paid a lot of money to the government with the levy over those years.

The government is always crying that the public health system was overloaded and in crisis, so they came up with a discount: if you joined a private health fund you would be eligible for a full discount if you earned under $90,000. But the discount today is paltry. 

Well it was time for me to retire five years ago and my financial adviser advised me to join a private health fund ‘just in case’. So I took his advice and joined up. Then the expenses took hold and every April the government allows funds to get a rise in their charges. I find this protection outrageous. It strangles competition and the losers are me and you. I have been penalised to boot and it is expensive, where does this penalty money go? 

Now this penalty is in force for 10 years. So, I am being penalised for managing my health for all those years and just because I didn’t need to be pressured by this piece of worthless legislation into private health I’m paying through the nose for my policy. Which is unfair.

My wife pays $145.51 a month and I pay $239.40 a month a penalty of $93.89 which makes it harder to pay when you’re on a pension.

I’d like to ask Dr David Gillespie, Luke Hartsuyker and Greg Hunt if they want to attract more people to private health funds to reduce the level of chaos in our public hospital system or are they just pulling the worll over the public’s eyes?

I am thinking of quitting my fund because of these penalties and I would say others will either not join or quit too. A hundred bucks can make you or break you especially if you’re a pensioner in Port Macquarie.

We have also received our home and content insurance too. Scrolling down the list of extra charges is quite revealing: GST on the premium, intermediary service fee, intermediary service fee GST … ‘stamp duty’!! – and this is the reason why many people – and pensioners – are are unable to afford to insure their homes.

Can Leslie Williams and the state treasurer explain why the now-financial state government is double dipping on an essential product like home and content insurance.

Isn’t it about time  this double dipping right across the board was scrapped, seeing that NSW received one of the highest proportion of the GST split.

Don’t these politicians realise this stamp duty is making the essential services in life unaffordable and the stamp duty that they get in the front door is going out the back door ten fold consisting of taxpayers money when the pocket bulging Insurance Companies don’t have to pay out a cent, time to wake up don’t you think?

Health insurance and home and content insurance also should be GST free to encourage more people to take up the offer and more affordable. 

Raymond G Mc Donald 

Bellevue Drive

Port Macquarie