Health system spending on disease and injury in Australia 2022–23

The Burden of Disease conditions list contains 220 conditions across 17 disease groups. Refer to Table 3 in the data tables for 2022–23, for a mapping of all the ABDS conditions to the 17 disease groups. This is not an exhaustive list of all possible health conditions and, as such, the spending associated with ‘other’ conditions within a group is relatively large.

Top 5 conditions for spending

The five conditions within disease groups with the highest spending in 2022–23 were:

• Injuries from falls ($5.1 billion)
• Osteoarthritis ($4.9 billion)
• Back pain and problems ($3.9 billion)
• Coronary heart disease ($3.8 billion)
• Dental caries ($3.3 billion)

The spending associated with ‘other’ conditions within a disease group was the highest for Other musculoskeletal disorders ($5.8 billion), Other cardiovascular diseases ($3.3 billion) and Other injuries ($3.3 billion) (excludes ‘not elsewhere classified’ groupings).

Of the estimated $172 billion of health spending in 2022–23, $1.8 billion could be allocated by age group and sex to the treatment and management of COVID–19 within the hospital, primary health care (GP services and PBS) and referred medical services (specialist, medical imaging and pathology) setting. For further information on COVID–19, refer to the COVID–19 section within this report and to Health system spending in response to COVID–19 in Australia 2019–20 to 2022–23 (AIHW 2024b).

The following interactive data visualisation (Figure 8) shows spending on conditions within each of the disease groups for each area of expenditure. Data used to create the visualisation is available to download from the data tables.

Figure 8: Expenditure on Burden of Disease conditions by area of expenditure, 2022–23

Spending on disease conditions for females

In 2022–23, of the $83.9 billion spent on females, the disease groups with the highest spending were musculoskeletal disorders, cancer and other neoplasms and cardiovascular diseases.

• Musculoskeletal disorders ($8.8 billion) of which the top 3 specific conditions within this group were:
  • Osteoarthritis ($2.8 billion)
  • Back pain and problems ($2.1 billion)
  • Rheumatoid arthritis ($0.7 billion)
• Cancer and other neoplasms ($8.5 billion) of which the top 3 specific cancers were:
  • Breast cancer ($1.7 billion)
  • Bowel cancer ($0.7 billion)
  • Non-melanoma skin cancer ($0.7 billion)
• Cardiovascular diseases ($6.8 billion) of which the top 2 specific conditions within this group were:
  • Coronary heart disease ($1.1 billion)
  • Stroke ($0.9 billion)

Spending on disease conditions for males

In 2022–23, of the $75.5 billion spent on males, the disease groups with the highest spending were cancer and other neoplasms, cardiovascular diseases and musculoskeletal disorders.

• Cancer and other neoplasms ($10.0 billion) of which the top 3 specific cancers were:
  • Prostate cancer ($1.9 billion)
  • Non-melanoma skin cancer ($1.1 billion)
  • Bowel cancer ($0.9 billion)
• Cardiovascular diseases ($9.4 billion) of which the top 3 specific conditions within this group were:
  • Coronary heart disease ($2.6 billion)
  • Atrial fibrillation and flutter ($1.1 billion)
  • Stroke ($1.1 billion)
• Musculoskeletal disorders ($7.0 billion) of which the top 2 specific conditions within this group were:
  • Osteoarthritis ($2.1 billion)
  • Back pain and problems ($1.8 billion)

In this report, dental expenditure is not currently reported by age and sex therefore ranking of conditions for sexes excludes dental expenditure.

The following interactive data visualisation (Figure 9) shows spending on conditions within a disease group by age group and sex. Data used to create the visualisation is available to download from the data tables.

Figure 9: Expenditure on Burden of Disease condition by sex and age group, 2022–23