Malcolm Turnbull almost lost an election because he had no health policy. Bill Shorten and Labor’s blatant, fabricated ‘Mediscare’, claiming secret Coalition plans to privatise Medicare, succeeded because Turnbull left a vacuum that Labor dishonestly filled.

With Treasurer Scott Morrison’s first post-election budget – the time in the electoral cycle where tough stuff is done – and a new health minister in the energetic Greg Hunt, there’s a big opportunity to phase out a measure that now brings little return for the billions spent on it: the private health insurance rebate.