Mr. David Muiry:

We have raised a couple of options during the course of the morning. The challenge is that as we transition towards a universal health insurance model, we must do so in a way that facilitates a neat transition. There is a particular issue with aged entry and community rating. It is implicit in a universal health insurance model that, essentially, everybody pays the same cost, although it is usual with the State, through contributions in income, for subsidies to be made to those on low incomes, for example. It would not be impossible to construct a system whereby in light of the particular challenge we face over the next few years, we could maintain a commercial insurance regime in a viable state by contemplating some incentives that could operate following the introduction of universal health insurance. That relates to families having medical insurance currently or prospectively prior to the introduction of universal health insurance. That could be time-bound, and with the often quoted regime in Australia the incentives to join early have a ten year life span.

With the group represented here, it would be fairly straightforward to provide some creative options that could achieve both the short-term benefits we are looking for - including a more balanced and sustainable insured population - as well as setting up a neat transition to universal health insurance.