In 2020–21, state and territory governments contributed $37.3 billion (52.9%). This was followed by the Australian Government with between $28.1 billion (as currently estimated, or 39.8%) and $29.7 billion (40.4% if the MBS components are included) and non-government entities at $5.2 billion (7.3%). Growth in spending by the Australian Government was 0.8% in real terms, compared with 6.6% by state and territory governments and 9.0% by non-government entities (Table 30). See more details on the Australian Government spending on public hospital services in MBS in public hospitals box and Table A11.
Over the 10-year period to 2020–21, overall spending increased in real terms by 3.6% on average per year, with the highest increase from state and territory governments (3.8%), followed by Australian Government (3.6%) and the non-government sector (2.6%) (Table 30).
See Australian National Health Account: Overview of data sources and methodology for more information on data sources and methodologies, as well as a comparison and alignment between this report and other health spending figures published elsewhere, especially related to public hospitals spending.
Most (68.1%, $13.0 billion) of the estimated $19.1 billion spent on private hospitals was funded by the non-government sector:
- private health insurance providers, $9.2 billion
- individuals, $2.4 billion
- other non-government, $1.4 billion (Table A6).
Another estimated $5.0 billion (26.3 %) was spent by the Australian Government (note that this estimate does not include the MBS components) and $1.1 billion (5.6%) by state and territory governments (Figure 26). Government spending in private hospitals can occur where state and territory governments contract with private hospitals to provide services to public patients, or where individual public hospitals buy services from private hospitals for public patients.
From 2019–20 to 2020–21, non-government spending on private hospitals increased by $1.4 billion (11.8%) in real terms. Spending on private hospitals funded by the Australian Government declined in real terms by $0.1 billion (1.8%). During the same time, the number of admissions in private hospitals increased by 10.5% after declining by 4.2% in 2019–20 (AIHW 2022a).