Who paid for the care of patients aged 85 and over?

In 2014–15, public and private hospitals had different patterns of funding for separations for patients aged 85 and over (Figure 16).

In public hospitals:

  • two thirds (67%, 279,399) of separations for patients aged 85 and over were publically funded—a lower proportion than for all separations (83%) (Figure 15)
  • private health insurance funded a further 19% (80,215) of separations for patients aged 85 and over, compared with 14% for all separations
  • the Department of Veterans' Affairs funded 13.5% (56,335) of separations for patients aged 85 and over, compared with 1.5% for all separations (1.5%).

In private hospitals:

  • private health insurance funded the majority (63%, 170,682) of separations for patients aged 85 and over—a lower proportion than for all separations (83%)
  • the Department of Veterans' Affairs funded 29.3% (79,808) of separations for patients aged 85 and over, compared with 4.3% for all separations (4.3%)
  • 3.0% (8,281) of separations for patients aged 85 and over were public patients—similar to the proportion for all separations (3.7%).

Figure 16: Proportion of separations by funding source and by hospital sector, patients aged 85 and over and all separations, 2014–15

This horizontal stacked bar graph shows a higher proportion of patients aged over 85 in public hospitals were funded by private health insurance and Department of Veterans’ Affairs compared to all separations. In private hospitals, a higher proportion of patients aged over 85 are funded by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs compared to all separations.

Source: NHMD.