THE Greens are proposing to push today for the removal of a central element of the health insurance legislation in a ploy which has the potential to undermine the Gillard government's $2.4 billion savings measure.
The Greens MP Adam Bandt is expected to move an amendment to enable changes the legislation to facilitate the Greens' demand to end the Medicare levy surcharge.
The government wants to increase the levy on high earners who do not have insurance to force them to do so. It is a pivotal stick to bolster the wider means-testing measures, which will progressively reduce to zero the rebate on health insurance premiums for those on high incomes.
The separate levy surcharge is to rise in two stages to 1.5 per cent of income of high earners, making non-membership as costly on high incomes as paying for insurance.
The Greens' plan threatens to shake the fragile support for the bill which relies on three crossbench MPs. The Greens will not vote down the means test, but they could combine with the opposition to have the numbers to block the surcharge.
The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, reaffirmed yesterday the Coalition's intention to fight the reforms but stopped at committing himself to repealing them if he wins government.
''We are fighting it. I think it's the job of the independents to keep the government honest, not to allow the government to be dishonest,'' he told Channel Ten.
The government needs an extra three votes and is likely to get them from Mr Bandt, as well as independents Rob Oakeshott and Andrew Wilkie.
Also on Channel Ten, another independent, Tony Windsor, restated his view that it is ''highly unlikely'' he will be supporting the reforms.
''Until you actually see the final legislation, and my vote could be significant, I'm not going to make a definitive ruling on it now. But if it is as we expect it to be, I won't be supporting it,'' he said.
The government says the surcharge is expected to generate $170 million in surcharge revenue from non-joiners, a figure the Greens have questioned.
The Greens' health spokesman, Richard Di Natale, told the Herald yesterday that while the Greens opposed the levy surcharge, they would only press for its removal if that could be achieved without sinking the headline provision to means test the health insurance rebate.
The Greens say the surcharge levy, even though only on high earners, erodes the universal basis of Medicare. Their plan is to remove a provision in the legislation that does not allow the means testing rules to take effect until the levy surcharge legislation take effect.
That would allow the Greens to vote against the levy without sinking the means testing bill.
Senator Di Natale said yesterday: ''The surcharge levy further entrenches a two-tier, American-style health system and turns Medicare into a safety net.
''We believe that everyone is entitled to access the public health system, including people on higher incomes because they have contributed to it through their taxes.
''That's what universal health care is all about. We wouldn't expect people on higher incomes who send their kids to government schools to be punished. Why should we do the same in health?'' he said.
with Dylan Welch
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