24th Feb 2010, 12:38 PM – Senate Fairer Private Health Insurance Incentives (Medicare Levy Surcharge) Bill 2009 [No. 2] and Fairer Private Health Insurance Incentives (Medicare Levy Surcharge - Fringe Benefits)...

The majority voted against a motion that the bills be read for a second time.(Read more about the stages that a bill needs to pass through before becoming law here.) This means that the majority disagreed with the main idea of the bills and that they will not be proceeding.

Background to the bills

The Fairer Private Health Insurance Incentives (Medicare Levy Surcharge) Bill 2009 (No. 2) and the Fairer Private Health Insurance Incentives (Medicare Levy Surcharge — Fringe Benefits) Bill 2009 (No. 2) were introduced as part of a package of three bills along with the Fairer Private Health Insurance Incentives Bill 2009 (No. 2). The bills create three private health insurance tiers in order to increase the rate of Medicare levy surcharge for taxpayers who do not have complying health insurance and whose income (including reportable fringe benefits) for surcharge purposes is above the relevant Medicare levy surcharge threshold.