This article has the depth of a tadpole pond. He takes the electorate for fools here!
500thousand people left their health insurance behind last year alone.
Health insurance is an abysmal failure.
Drinking alcohol as the drug of choice in our society, has huge negative consequences to budgets and individuals...this clown is a lying politician. No more!

Since I am unwilling to accept stolen money from the government (which has no other money that is not the proceeds of theft or robbery), I tried to get myself out of Medicare:

I checked out and found that they would indeed allow me to return my Medicare card. However, once I relinquished my Medicare number I would not be allowed to continue having my private health cover (yet still be subject to fines for not having it).

Rather than trying to change a system which, bad as it may be, most Australians seem to like, the author-senator should concentrate on introducing legislation that will allow others to opt out of that system.

Once that is done, those who choose to remain within the system will no longer have a right to complain that the nanny-state restricts their unhealthy habits.

diver dan & Yuyutsu, i hear where you are coming from but libertarian ideology is about personal responsibility & the freedom to harm yourself if you wish. tobacco & alcohol are heavily taxed & always have been so our governments have always been guilty of allowing the problems.

health insurance has been complicated by government compulsion. education & health care used to be provided by churches for their members who donated to the church.

Dear Imacentristmoderate,

<<libertarian ideology is about personal responsibility & the freedom to harm yourself if you wish>>

Thus presented it doesn't sound so great, but what's much more important is the freedom to do things which the state BELIEVES would harm myself.