Pensioners at a post-budget meeting in Altona last week expressed fears they could lose their concessions for prescription medication, power bills, rates, public transport and car registration.
Yarraville’s Bruce Light, a 77-year-old self-funded retiree who receives a modest pension top-up, said he feared being disqualified from concessions because he wasn’t on a full pension.
The federal government has cancelled its joint funding commitment for some concessions to save $1.3 billion over four years.
“Getting $100 a fortnight is not much, but it’s not the benefit I like – it’s the benefit in concessions,” Mr Light said.
“[The federal government] has now cut that out of the states, and the state’s got to pick it up. The states are not sure yet whether they’re going to pick it up or not, so that could affect me in not getting these concessions, and particularly on the medication side.”
Premier Denis Napthine said last week changes to national partnership agreements would cut $75 million in federal funding for pensioner concessions.
From July, people will pay $7 for doctor visits and out-of-hospital pathology tests.
Mr Light said that while doctor co-payments were capped, there was no word on whether pharmaceutical co-payments would also be capped.
“Up until I was about 70, I very rarely went to the doctor,” he said. “Now, I’ve just had a pacemaker fitted. Recently, it’s been quite an expense.
“Because I’ve got this benefit from qualifying for the age pension, it makes my life comfortable. Now there is talk about that being taken away.”
Mr Light said the budget should have tackled super contributions and negative gearing.
“These are well-known areas where it’s benefiting the more affluent or well-off people,” he said.
