If you have Private Health Insurance, then you have no doubt recently received a notice in the mail advising of your new premium from 1st April, 2015 – and in most cases I expect that will be an increased premium!

At the same time the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) have changed to way the Private Health Insurance (PHI) Rebate applies, and the amounts of the rebate.

The ATO advise that “To be eligible for the rebate, you must have a complying health insurance policy and meet other criteria. The rebate amount will depend on your single or family income. You can claim the rebate as either a premium reduction or a refundable tax offset. From 1 April 2014, the rebate percentage is adjusted by a rebate adjustment factor.”

Essentially, there are a number of factors which will impact on your ability to claim the PHI Rebate, namely the type of cover you have, when you started this cover and your income level.

But the key here is the new rebates as adjusted by the rebate adjustment factor.  You can use the table here to look up your income level and the relevant rebate for the period 1st July, 2014 – 31st March, 2015 and 1st April, 2015 – 30th June, 2015.

There’s no need to contact your Private Health Insurer to make a change to the rebate percentage, unless you have determined that you may fall into a different income threshold.

Regards