Federal Health Minister Mark Butler acknowledges that public hospitals are under pressure.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The report – which could recommend the federal government contributes more to the health system,already one of its top five areas of expenditure growth – will be handed down in December with an interim report presented to health ministers in August.
The doctors’ union has joined the states in campaigning for more Commonwealth money and said the system could not afford to wait for a new agreement to come into force in 2025.
An Australian Medical Association (AMA) analysis last month found just three of the country’s public hospitals were providing care within recommended timeframes,and AMA head Steve Robson said it was obvious the current funding arrangements weren’t sufficient.
“If you look around at the moment,it’s pretty dismal. Waiting until 2025 doesn’t do any favours for Australians waiting for care or struggling to access emergency departments,” he said. “We strongly encourage a half-time shake-up here,and that they don’t wait until the end of the match to make the changes.”
State premiers and health ministers have been agitating for an extension of the 50:50 cost-sharing deal they struck with the federal government during the first three years of the COVID pandemic,in which the Commonwealth pitched in billions in additional funds to support hospitals.
That arrangement came to an end in December,despite health ministers’ pleas for it to continue until 2025 as spiralling inflation,delayed elective surgeries and crowded emergency departments increased the cost of running public hospitals to record levels.
The stateshave also been calling on the Albanese government to abolish the 6.5 per cent annual growth cap on its contributions.