Health Insurance Amendment (Incentive Payments and Other Measures) Bill 2026; Third Reading

Summary

This legislation modifies the Health Insurance Act 1973 to adjust how insurance companies reward people for maintaining continuous private health insurance coverage through incentive payments. The changes affect the Lifetime Health Cover scheme, which currently penalizes people who let their insurance lapse by charging them higher premiums later, and this amendment revises how those incentive mechanisms work. For everyday Australians, this means the rewards or penalties for keeping private health insurance could change — potentially making it cheaper to stay insured continuously, or altering how the government encourages people not to drop their coverage. The amendment addresses how private health insurers interact with the government's rules about encouraging long-term insurance membership.

What happens at this stage

The final vote in this chamber on the bill as a whole, after all amendments have been considered. If it passes, the bill moves to the other chamber to go through the same process. If both chambers have already agreed to identical text, the bill proceeds directly to Royal Assent.

Next: The other chamber, which runs the same process from First Reading, or Royal Assent if both chambers have already agreed