Push for aged care tax slug

ONE of the country’s major health unions is calling on taxpayers to cough up more of their money to help fund Australia’s aged care system, despite the coronavirus shutdown suffocating wage growth.

A report released by the Health Services Union (HSU) is urging the federal government to hike the Medicare levy from 2 per cent to 2.65 per cent, arguing the rise in what Australians pay for public healthcare would add nearly 59,000 new workers to the sector. The increase by 65 basis points paid in the levy would cost taxpayers about $20.4bn over the next four years.

HSU’s report was commissioned for the royal commission into aged care and says only 42.5 per cent of Australia’s aged care facilities are meeting satisfactory standards – a similar view to Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, who said Labor would examine changes to the Medicare levy once the commission had delivered its final report.

“We’ll examine the royal commission when it comes out with regard to structural change that’s required,” Mr Albanese said on ABC’s Insiders program.

“It’s very clear that the aged care sector is, in the words of the royal commission, ‘subject to neglect at the moment’.”

The push for an increase into what Australians pay for health care comes amid an economy rocked by the coronavirus pandemic, which has fuelled a rise in unemployment and placed downward pressure on wage growth.

Liberal senator and Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said the government would make a decision once the royal commission published its final report, expected in February.