Under the $131.4 billion funding deal,state-run hospitals will no longer be incentivised to ask patients to use their private insurance for treatment they are entitled to for free.
![Scott Morrison said the national cabinet will continue to meet fortnightly during the pandemic and then monthly in the future.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/e814848d9a14dbacdf176075a18073e875be295d)
Scott Morrison said the national cabinet will continue to meet fortnightly during the pandemic and then monthly in the future.Alex Ellinghausen
Prime Minister Morrison announced the agreement after national cabinet met on Friday,saying it would deliver an extra $34.4 billion to public hospitals over five years.
Private Hospitals Association chief executive Michael Roff said the new deal should stop the"harvesting"of private patients,which had filled almost 14 per cent of public hospital beds with private patients.
Under the previous funding arrangements,public hospitals received more funding to treat people as private patients,leading to aggressive tactics in emergency rooms where patients felt pressured to use their health insurance - often resulting in out-of-pocket costs.
Mr Morrison announced the National Cabinet of premiers and chief ministers will become a permanent fixture and will work alongside treasurers in the existing Council on Federal Financial Relations (CFFR),and the Australian Local Government Association,forming the new National Federation Reform Council.
Mr Morrison said the National Cabinet will continue to meet on a fortnightly basis"during the COVID period",and monthly"in a normal year".
"[We] won't meet in person. One of the things we've learned from meeting so regularly[is] we can work effectively together with the telemeeting facilities,"he said.
COAG was founded by the Keating government in 1992 as a forum for state and territory leaders to debate with one another and the federal government. Mr Morrison convened the new National Cabinet in mid-March to respond to the coronavirus crisis.
The leaders have met regularly,sometimes several times a week,to coordinate key messages and debate policy responses to the pandemic.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses the media after the twentieth National Cabinet meeting during the COVID-19 crisis.
Mr Morrison has shifted National Cabinet's focus from an initial consideration of social distancing measures to prevent the spread of the virus,to reopening the economy and creating jobs.
The Prime Minister flagged as early as mid-April that National Cabinet may continue to meet after coronavirus,describing the process as"more responsive and more coordinated than we've seen in many years".
On Friday Mr Morrison said the National Cabinet will meet once a year with the CFFR,which will"take responsibility for all the funding agreements for the states and the Commonwealth",as well as the Australian Local Government Association.
![Prime Minister Scott Morrison outlines the plan for national federation reform,abolishing COAG.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/62e456ec38d2d323f0fb41bee2a3879c13d44995)
Prime Minister Scott Morrison outlines the plan for national federation reform,abolishing COAG.Alex Ellinghausen
He said task forces working on"important national agenda issues"that previously went to COAG will continue,including combating domestic violence and the work being done on Indigenous affairs and closing the gap.
Unlike COAG,National Cabinet will be bound by traditional cabinet rules,meaning the public will not be able to access documents produced under it through freedom of information requests.
Mr Morrison said the National Cabinet will be"driven by a singular agenda,and that is to create jobs".
While Mr Morrison acknowledged it was important for ministers at state and federal level to continue to talk to each as they have done in COAG,he said"they don't have to do it in such a bureaucratic form with a whole bunch of paperwork attached to it".
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