Expenditure on health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 2008-09

In 2008-09, total health expenditure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was estimated at $3,700 million. The average health expenditure per person for Indigenous Australians was $6,787, compared with $4,876 for each non-Indigenous Australian. Correspondingly, the Indigenous to non-Indigenous per person health expenditure ratio was 1.39. This report, the sixth in the series, again shows that Indigenous Australians are more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to rely on public hospital services. In 2008-09, per person expenditure on public hospital services for Indigenous Australians was more than double that for non-Indigenous Australians - an expenditure ratio of 2.25.