29 May 2017 - The private health insurance rebate would be abolished, consumers would be charged more for extras cover and the states would be forced to find more money for public hospitals under radical funding changes being considered by top government officials.

Documents obtained by Fairfax Media reveal the nation's most senior health bureaucrats are part of a secret taskforce developing a proposal for a 'Commonwealth Hospital Benefit' – a new funding formula for public and private hospitals that would have widespread ramifications for patients and the medical industry.

However Health Minister Greg Hunt has now ruled out adopting the plan: "It will not be government policy. It will never be government policy."

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