Liberal candidate for Lindsay Fiona Scott has accused the Assistant Treasurer and Local MP of standing idly by while Lindsay families are forced to endure further cost-of-living pain, with the news that private health insurance premiums will rise 5.6%.
"David Bradbury is an integral part of this incompetent Gillard Government and he is complicit in the raft of tax-hikes and cost-of-living rises that just keep coming, slamming the people of Lindsay.
Ms Scott said the latest health care rise would mean that many families would have to pull out of private health insurance schemes.
"They just can't afford it," she said. "There are 48,327 people in Lindsay – more than half of the electorate - who rely on private health insurance."
Ms Scott said Gillard was cutting around $4 billion from private health over the next four years and that her new means test on the 30 per cent rebate would cost local families up to an extra $1200 a year.
This is on top of Friday’s announcement which will cost the average Australian family nearly $200 a year.
"Private health insurance is now unaffordable for many families, including the millions who have it but who earn less than $35,000 a year. This means that as people quit or downgrade their private health insurance even more people will be added to public hospital waiting lists."
Ms Scott said the health system is already under pressure due to the Gillard Government’s $1.6 billion worth of cuts to public hospitals.
"Hospital cutbacks, broken promises on private health insurance and continued private health insurance increases over and above CPI are taking their toll on families and putting more pressure on our public hospitals.
"The Coalition is committed to strengthening Medicare and taking pressure off public hospitals by restoring the Private Health Insurance Rebate as soon as we responsibly can, and will end the waste and get the Budget back under control so that Australians can be provided with better health services."