澳大利亚参议院周三投票否决了政府提议的预算措施，该措施原计划取消65岁及以上老年人享受的更高私人健康保险回扣1。反对党、绿党和跨党派议员联合支持一项动议，将该法案从参议院议程中删除1。
政府表示这一措施可为预算节省约30亿澳元（四年期间），并将这笔资金重新投入老年护理1。然而，该提案引发了广泛反对。反对党文件显示，卫生部内部预计到2029-30年将有78,000名老年人因此取消保险，但政府此前公开使用的数据仅为44,000人1。受影响人口约为300万，其中包括约120万领取养老金的人士1。据估算，70岁以上的单身人士若使用Gold级保险计划，年费用将增加约400澳元1。
跨党派议员杰基·兰比指出，"你不能靠养老金领取者的牺牲来平衡预算"1。绿党领导人大卫·肖布里奇表示，"我们有一个简单的信息——向天然气跨国公司征税，不要向养老金领取者征税"1。卫生部长马克·巴特勒表示政府将于周四重新提出该立法1。
Australia's Senate voted on Wednesday to block a government budget measure that would have eliminated enhanced private health insurance rebates for people aged 65 and older.1 The Opposition, the Greens, and crossbench members united to pass a motion removing the legislation from the Senate agenda.1 The government had argued the measure would save approximately AUD 3 billion over four years and redirect those funds toward aged care services.1
The proposal faced broad opposition centered on concerns that low-income pensioners would struggle with resulting premium increases.1 Internal Health Department documents obtained by the Opposition projected that 78,000 older Australians would cancel their insurance by 2029-30, a figure notably higher than the 44,000 previously cited in publicly released government data.1 Single individuals aged 70 and over with Gold-level coverage would have faced additional annual costs of approximately AUD 400.1 About 1.2 million pensioners were among the roughly 3 million people who would have been affected.1
Greens leader David Shorten stated: "We have a simple message — tax the gas multinationals, don't tax pensioners."1 Crossbench member Jackie Lambie declared: "You can't balance the budget on the backs of pensioners."1 Health Minister Mark Butler indicated the government would reintroduce the legislation in Parliament on Thursday.1
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