Health system spending per case of disease and for certain risk factors

Acknowledgments

This report was prepared by the Health Economics Unit of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Rebecca Bennetts was the project manager. Matthew Boyd was the lead analyst and prepared the data tables and visualisations. Emily Bourke provided valuable advice on the methodology and was the main author of the report.

Geoff Callaghan and Bernice Cropper provided review and advice in the development of this report. In addition, the advice from the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing was taken into consideration in the preparation of this report.

Amendments

5 November 2025 – In the Summary, the year 2023-24 was added to the last 2 infographics to make it clear what financial year the information referred to.

In the Health system spending per case section, Figures 2, 3 and 4 were updated to include the option to select expenditure in either current or constant prices. The tool tips (information available when you hover over the visualisation) were updated accordingly.

The following two data files were updated to include health system spending per case for burden of disease groups. Previously information was only available at the burden of disease condition level.

• Data tables: Health system spending per case of disease and for certain risk factors

• Data tables: Health system spending per case of disease and for certain risk factors (machine readable files - Cost per prevalent case)

31 October 2025 – Changes have been made to two of the key findings in the infographic in the Summary section of the report to reflect the latest findings.

• The third key finding has been updated to: Of the cancer group, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia had the highest spending per case at $0.5 million in 2023-24
• The percentage in the last key finding has been updated to 68%: Over two thirds (68%) of the estimated spending on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was due to tobacco use