Health & welfare expenditure

This report was first published on the MyHealthyCommunities website.

New data in this MyHealthyCommunities web update provides local-level information for 15 measures of health care use across Australia for 2016−17. Results are presented for the 31 Primary Health Network (PHN) areas and smaller local areas called Statistical Areas Level 3 (SA3).

These measures include the number of GP, after-hours GP, specialist and aged-care home attendances per person. They also include the percentage of bulk-billed GP attendances, the percentage of people in local areas who did not claim a GP attendance within the year, and expenditure by Medicare on GP attendances and specialist attendances. Age and sex disaggregated data is also available for the number of GP, after-hours GP and specialist attendances per person in the accompanying excel file.

In 2012–13, hospital admitted patient expenditure was estimated at $45.0 billion, and accounted for almost one third (31%) of total health expenditure. Expenditure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was estimated at $2.1 billion. Expenditure was highest in older age groups, but grew for all age groups from 2004–05 to 2012–13 (45.5%). Cardiovascular diseases were the largest disease contributor at $5.0 billion (11.1%), followed by injuries at $4.1 billion (9.0%).

Total spending on health in Australia was $170.4 billion in 2015–16, $6.0 billion (3.6%) higher in real terms than in 2014–15. This was the fourth consecutive year that growth was below the 10 year average of 4.7%.

Despite the low growth, the share of the economy (GDP) represented by health (10.3%) continued to grow, due to slower real GDP growth (2.7%).

Spending on health in Australia (recurrent and capital expenditure combined) was $161.6 billion in 2014–15, $4.4 billion (2.8%) higher in real terms than in 2013–14. This was the third consecutive year that growth in health expenditure was below the 10-year average (4.6% between 2004–05 and 2014–15). Growth in health expenditure per person was also relatively low, at less than a half of the average annual growth over the decade (1.4% compared with 2.9%). Despite the low growth, the share of the economy (GDP) represented by health reached 10.0% for the first time.

This report extends the analysis presented in Health expenditure Australia 2013–14 to further explore expenditure on particular categories of health goods and services. In 2013–14, $58.8 billion was spent on hospitals in Australia, $54.7 billion on primary health care and $32.0 billion on other health goods and services. A further $9.1 billion was spent on capital expenditure. Unreferred medical services attracted the highest share of primary health care funding in 2013–14, at 19.3%. This is different to earlier in the decade, when benefit-paid pharmaceuticals attracted the most spending from 2008–09 to 2011–12. Growth in expenditure on benefit-paid pharmaceuticals slowed in the last 3 years compared with the rest of the decade. This slower growth in expenditure was in contrast to a steady increase in the number of prescriptions dispensed over the same period.

Total expenditure on health was estimated at $154.6 billion in 2013–14, up by 3.1% on 2012–13 in real terms. Growth in expenditure per person was $6,639, which was $94 more in real terms than in 2012–13. Despite this relatively slow growth, total expenditure was 9.8% of GDP in 2013–14, up from 9.7% in 2012–13. Governments provided $104.8 billion (or 67.8%) of total health expenditure, which represented about 25% of taxation revenue (unchanged from 2012–13). The non-government sector share of total expenditure increased from 30.0% in 2011–12 to 32.2% in 2013–14, despite generally falling throughout the decade. Funding by individuals was the fastest growing area of non-government sector expenditure over the decade.

This report extends the analysis presented in Health expenditure Australia 2012–13 to further explore expenditure on particular categories of health goods and services. In 2012–13, $55.9 billion was spent on hospitals in Australia, $52.9 billion on primary health care and $29.9 billion on other areas of health spending. A further $8.6 billion was spent on capital expenditure. All funders increased their expenditure on hospitals between 2002–03 and 2012–13; however, growth in state and territory government funding ($10.6 billion) was almost double that of the Australian Government ($5.4 billion). Primary health care spending is shared relatively evenly between Australian Government (about 43.0%) and non-government sources (about 41.0%), with the states and territories playing a relatively small role, over the same period.

Expenditure on health in Australia was estimated to be $147.4 billion in 2012–13, 1.5% higher than in 2011–12 and the lowest growth since the mid 1980’s. In 2012–13, governments provided $100.8 billion (or 68.3%) of total health expenditure. Government funding of health expenditure fell in real terms for the first time in the decade by 0.9%, largely a result of a decline in Australian Government funding of 2.4%. State and territory government funding was also relatively low, growing just 1.4% in real terms in 2012–13. In contrast, growth in non-government funding was relatively strong at 7.2%. 

This issues paper reviews the context and past experience of public finance reform and its effects on governance in remote Indigenous communities. It focuses on the modalities used to manage the conversion of public financing of Indigenous organisations into activities. Funding modalities means the policies and instruments that structure and govern how funding is delivered and aligned with government priorities, including administrative, financing and accountability mechanisms.

Arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions are substantial contributors to health-care expenditure in Australia. In 2008–09, estimated health-care expenditure allocated to these conditions totalled $5,690 million– the 4th most expensive disease group, accounting for 8.7% of total health-care expenditure allocated to disease groups. This report is the latest in a series on arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions expenditure. The key objectives of this report are to describe the distribution of health-care expenditure by health-care sector for the major musculoskeletal conditions: osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, back problems and osteoporosis.

This report extends the analysis presented in Health expenditure Australia 2011–12 to further explore expenditure on particular categories of health goods and services, including hospitals, primary health care, other recurrent health expenditure and capital expenditure. In 2011–12, a total of $132.4 billion was spent on recurrent health expenditure where 40.4% ($53.5 billion) was spent on hospitals, 38.2% ($50.6 billion) was spent on primary health care and the remaining 21.3% ($28.3 billion) was spent on other areas of health spending. Capital expenditure accounted for a further $7.9 billion bringing the total expenditure on health goods and services in 2011–12 to $140.2 billion.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) makes a considerable impact on the health of Australians and has the highest level of health-care expenditure of any disease group. Between 2000–01 and 2008–09, health-care expenditure allocated to CVD increased by 48% from $5,207 million to $7,717 million. The health-care sector with the largest increase (55%) was hospital admitted patients.

Health system expenditure on cancer and other neoplasms in Australia, 2008–09 provides estimates of Australia’s health system expenditure on care for those with cancer and on the prevention and treatment of cancer. The report presents cancer expenditure by age group, sex and type of cancer, and it compares health system expenditure on cancer in 2008–09 to 2004–05 and 2000–01 in constant prices. 

Palliative care services in Australia 2013 is the second in a planned series of annual reports providing a detailed picture of the national response to the palliative care needs of Australians. Information from a range of data sources from 2011-12 and where indicated, 2010-11 are presented, as are changes over time. There were almost 54,500 palliative care-related separations reported in public and private hospitals in 2010-11. Almost $3.5 million in Medicare Benefits Schedule payments was paid for palliative medicine specialist services in 2011-12.

Expenditure on health in Australia was estimated to be $140.2 billion in 2011–12, up from $82.9 billion in 2001–02. This expenditure was 9.5% of GDP in 2011–12, up from 9.3% in 2010–11 and up from 8.4% in 2001–02. The estimated recurrent expenditure on health was $5,881 per person. Governments funded 69.7% of total health expenditure, a slight increase from 69.1% in 2010–11. The largest components of health spending were public hospital services ($42.0 billion, or 31.8% of recurrent expenditure), followed by medical services ($23.9 billion, or 18.1%) and medications ($18.8 billion, or 14.2%).

This report provides a detailed analysis of health expenditure for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in 2010-11. Estimates are disaggregated at the regional level, as well as for specific disease and injury groups. For selected services, expenditure increased with remoteness for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The disease groups that accounted for the highest proportion of admitted patient expenditure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were genitourinary diseases ($195 million or 11% of Indigenous admitted patient expenditure), which includes the cost of dialysis treatment.

Between 2000–01 and 2008–09, health-care expenditure allocated to diabetes increased by 86% from $811 million to $1,507 million. The health-care sector where the largest increase took place was hospital admitted patients for which expenditure more than doubled in this period. Type 2 diabetes accounted for 60% of diabetes expenditure in 2008–09.

In 2010-11, health expenditure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was estimated at $4.6 billion, or 3.7% of Australia's total recurrent health expenditure. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population comprised 2.5% of the Australian population at this time. Expenditure equated to $7,995 per Indigenous person, which was 1.47 times greater than the $5,437 spent per non-Indigenous Australian in the same year. Governments funded 91.4% of health expenditure for Indigenous people, compared with 68.1% for non-Indigenous people.

Expenditure on health in Australia was estimated to be $130.3 billion in 2010-11, up from $77.5 billion in 2000-01. This expenditure was 9.3% of gross domestic product in 2010-11, down from 9.4% in 2009-10 but up from 8.2% in 2000-01. The estimated recurrent expenditure on health was $5,796 per person, and 69.1% was funded by governments, up from 67.7% in 2000-01. The two largest components of the increase in health expenditure were public hospital services, which grew by $2.2 billion in real terms, followed by medications ($2.1 billion).