It seems they are designed to funnel you into the arms of corporations. I've read that enough youth are just taking the surcharge and loading on the chin that insurers have started to worry. I've considered it--the value for money of private insurance is not great.
It doesn't feel like an exaggeration to call it extortion either.
If you maintain the cheapest qualifying policy you are almost guaranteed to be paying for something of such little value that you will never choose to use it. Nobody benefits other than health insurance hareholders.
One of a large number of social, economic and environmental injustices that the ALP should fix but will not. They have the numbers. It's a rare opportunity.
Precisely. Now is precisely the time for Labor to do some bold progressive changes. Like fixing this extortion. Like dental and mental health into Medicare.
It's kind of like providing a highly expensive, and logistically complex service requiring recruitment and retention of highly skilled professionals to provide an essential service to people who can't possibly pay for it is not suited to privatization.