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Authors: Andrew Ridgway Authors: Andrew Ridgway
Summary: A parent's account of how Australia's health, tax and welfare systems interact to penalise families who access their superannuation for essential medical treatment for their children. Summary: A parent's account of how Australia's health, tax and welfare systems interact to penalise families who access their superannuation for essential medical treatment for their children.
This is going to be a long blog post. I do not normally air complaints this specific publicly, but in this day and age it seems to be the only way to get people to stand back from their own processes and rules and sit down and actually listen to how a system works in reality. The long and short of it is that we have a compassionate release of superannuation system that is neither compassionate nor understanding, and is actively generating worse outcomes than the failure it was designed to address. I will outline my case below, but I am very concerned about what this means for the people who access this system for things like cosmetic dental. This is going to be a long blog post. I do not normally air complaints this specific publicly, but in this day and age it seems to be the only way to get people to stand back from their own processes and rules and sit down and actually listen to how a system works in reality. The long and short of it is that we have a compassionate release of superannuation system that is neither compassionate nor understanding, and is actively generating worse outcomes than the failure it was designed to address.
I recently had to deal with something no parent enjoys. My child injured her knee to the point it required surgery. She was just getting into rugby and doing some amazing things to get on top of her health, and we were faced with the inevitable choice that comes with this scenario in Australia: public or private health. What follows is the journey that happens when you try to use private health in Australia to get better outcomes for your child. We are going to look at the interactions between the private and public health system, the Australian Taxation Office and the compassionate release of superannuation system, and how that release then interacts with both the Child Care Subsidy and Human Services systems. I recently had to deal with something no parent enjoys. My child injured her knee to the point it required surgery. She was just getting into rugby and doing some amazing things to get on top of her health, and we were faced with the unenviable choice that comes with this scenario in Australia: public or private health. What follows is the journey that happens when you try to use private health in Australia to get better outcomes for your child. We are going to look at the interactions between the private and public health system, the Australian Taxation Office and the compassionate release of superannuation system, and how that release then interacts with the Child Care Subsidy and Human Services system.
The three systems in question are private and public health, the ATO and superannuation, and the Child Care Subsidy and Human Services. We recently attempted to take the matter through the Administrative Review Tribunal, but the invasive and costly structure put in place for that review means only one thing in practice. We have to let the system win because of its pervasive nature and internal culture of wearing the public down until they do not have the energy to fight any more. I will touch on the tribunal in passing, but this post is not about the tribunal process. This blog post is accompanied by emails from the respective Ministers and my local representative. It is the last attempt to have someone actually listen, rather than send canned emails that treat me like a child who did not do any prior research.
This blog post is accompanied by emails to the respective Ministers and my local representative. It is the last attempt to have someone actually listen, rather than send canned emails that treat me like a child who did not do any prior research. Yes, Jacqualine Myint, I am referring to the response to my previous enquiry which completely missed the point that I had already outlined how the systems were interacting.
I would like to note that Ali France, my local MP, has reached out to me to ask for my story to assist with her work in the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability on improving access to specialty doctors. If that committee work is something that matters to you, they are accepting submissions at the Department of Health and Aged Care consultation page on specialist affordability and access. You can see it [here.](https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/consultation-on-specialist-affordability-and-access?language=en). It's a step in the right direction to at least shine a light on the problem but I won't hold my breath for any concrete outcomes. I would like to note that Ali France, my local MP, has reached out to me to ask for my story to assist with her work in the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability on improving access to specialty doctors. If that committee work is something that matters to you, they are accepting submissions at the Department of Health and Aged Care consultation page on specialist affordability and access. You can see it [here.](https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/consultation-on-specialist-affordability-and-access?language=en). It's a step in the right direction to at least shine a light on the problem but I won't hold my breath for any concrete outcomes.