Private health insurance rebate?

My mum is a self funded retiree. She lives off the alimony payments my dad makes (they separated almost 20 years ago). She has not worked for several years, since she had a very bad fall and broke her back. Mum has PHI and really can't afford not to have it due to ongoing issues with her back as well as some other chronic health issues. Mum is not interested in claiming any sort of government payment such as a disability pension, but she is finding it difficult to stretch her money to cover PHI as well as her other living costs. My question is, given that she doesn't earn any money - or pay any tax - is mum eligible to claim the 30% government rebate on PHI??

My parents are self funded retirees and also get some pension from govt, they get the 30% rebate I am pretty sure. Obviously they claim it up front off their costs as they don't pay tax to claim it back off either.

ETA pretty sure over 65 year olds get a higher amount than 30% too.

ETA 2 just found this:

Australian Government Rebate
NO CHANGE TIER 1 TIER 2 TIER 3
Singles Less than $84,000 $84,001-$97,000 $97,001-$130,000 $130,001+
Couples/ Families Less than $168,000$168,001-$194,000 $194,001-$260,000 $260,001+
Under 65 30% 20% 10% 0%
65-69 35% 25% 15% 0%
70+ 40% 30% 20%

Thanks ausgirl, it looks to me like she can claim the rebate. She is 63 and her income from dad would be less than $84k so it looks like she should get a 30./. Rebate? Hmmm... Do you think she needs to contact the health fund or... Medibank, centrelink...? She doesn't pay tax as dad pays tax on the money before he gives it to her, but I assume it's still classed as 'income'?

As far as I know she needs to just contact her health fund and tell them she wants to have the rebate deducted from her payments.

Just get her to call the phi and say she wants the rebate taken off her fees.

She has never claimed the rebate as she didn't think she was eligible as she doesn't pay tax... That's an awful lot of money she has paid if she is eligible!! I didn't realise she hadn't looked into it until she mentioned today that her fees had gone up again. Thank you for your advice.

I don't believe the rebate has anything to do with tax. The option of how you want to claim it does, but not the rebate itself. In that I mean you claim it later to offset your taxable income at tax time kind of like a savings fund I guess for some. For me, I'd rather pay less now. The rebate applies for anyone, paying tax or not if you have PHI, you don't have to prove you are a tax payer to claim the rebate when you take out health insurance.
What a shame for her that she's been paying all this time. Perhaps there is a way to get the money back? I would suggest she ask when she calls her PHI.

It's worth talking to the phi to see if she can get a refund on the rebate.

Have you ever heard of a refundable tax offset? Well happily, this is one of those. She is eligible to get ALL of it paid back. For all the years she has had PHI and the refundable tax offset was available. If you don't want to pay an accountant (they will charge a fortune) and prefer to lodge them all yourself, message me and I can give you a hand and show you the easiest way, if you need.

reference: Changes to private health insurance rebate and Medicare levy surcharge

Guide to tax offsets