Expenditure FAQs
Key publications
Health expenditure Australia 2006-07 (September 2008)
Public health expenditure in Australia 2006-07 (September 2008)
Welfare expenditure Australia 2005-06 (November 2007)
Expenditures on health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 2004-05 (February 2008)
Health system expenditure on disease and injury in Australia 2000-01, second edition (April 2005)
The burden of disease and injury in Australia 2003 (May 2007)
Contents
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How much is currently spent on health in Australia?
Total health expenditure in 2006-07, from all sources, was estimated to be $94.0 billion, 9.0% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or $4,507 per person.
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How do we compare with other countries?
Australian health expenditure as a proportion of GDP and in per person terms was lower than the OECD weighted average in 2006.
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Which areas of health have the highest spending?
Public hospital services have the highest expenditure at $27.0 billion or 30.9% of total recurrent health expenditure in 2006-07, followed by medical services with $16.7 billion (19.1%) and medications with $12.0 billion or 13.7% of total recurrent health spending.
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Which areas of health spending are growing the fastest?
The fastest growing areas of expenditure in 2006-07 were patient transport services (up 16% in real terms on what was spent in 2005-06), public health (up 13%) and research (up 8%).
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How does government health spending compare with that of non-government spending?
Government funded health expenditure from all levels of government was 68.7% of total health expenditure in 2006-07. The non- government sector (households, private health insurance funds and other private sector organisations) funded 31.3% of expenditure.
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How much is spent on the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and how does this compare with spending on other Australians?
Expenditure on health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples was estimated at $2,304 million in 2004-05, or 2.8% of total recurrent health expenditure. In per person terms, this equates to $4,718, which is 17% higher than for other Australians ($4,019).
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How much is spent on public health?
Total spending on public health programs was $1,714 million in 2006-07 or 2.0% of total recurrent health expenditure.
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How much is currently spent on welfare?
Total welfare expenditure in 2005-06 was $90.2 billion, of which $61.3 billion (68%) was cash benefits and $28.9 billion (32%) benefits-in-kind (welfare services). Spending on welfare services in 2005-06 was 3.0% of GDP or $1,404 per person.