Private Health Insurance Rebate - estimator
How much could the cut to Private Health Insurance rebates cost you?
The federal government has announced the intention to cut the rebate for Private Health Insurance rebate for people 65 and over to pay for aged care. This would remove higher rebates for people over 65, making the rebate consistent regardless of age. The higher rate for seniors was intrduced to encourage older people to use the private health system, reducing pressure on the public system.
This could increase out-of-pocket premiums by more than $1000 a year for a couple with Gold level cover and force tens of thousands of seniors to drop private health and rely on the public system.
The estimator below shows the likely impact on your current policy.
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The federal government provides a rebate for Private Health Insurance, to reduce the cost of private health insurance.
This is one of several incentives and penalties used to maintain the number of people subcribed to private health insurance.
Many people receive this rebate directly off their premium, but some may receive it at tax time.
The rebate rate depends on the age of the people insured and their income.
Since 2004, people 65 year and over have received a higher level of rebate than people below this age.
The government has announced its intention to reduce this higher rebate for seniors to the level applying to those under age 65.
This is be expected to increase premiums for the more than 2.6 million seniors with Private Health Insurance cover, leading some to drop their cover - potentially increasing the strain on the public health system.
The impact will be most significant for pensioner sand low-income self funded retirees, who will either drop or downgrade their policy or reduce spending on other essentials.
The table below shows the current rebate levels - if implemented, the likely rates are the ones in bold:
Private Health Insurance rebate, rates for April-June 2026
| Oldest person covered | Base tier | Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 65 years old | 24.118% | 16.079% | 8.038% | 0.000% |
| 65–69 years old | 28.139% | 20.098% | 12.058% | 0.000% |
| 70 years old and over | 32.158% | 24.118% | 16.079% | 0.000% |
The information on this page are general estimates of the potential impact based on the information available and assumptions made and is intended as educational material and not legal advice, financial advice, or other forms of professional advice. The impact will vary depending on the full financial circumstances of specific individuals or couples. We discuss our assumptions further below.
