Rise in Australia health spending
12 December 2015 by News Desk
Spending on health products and services in Australia has increased.
And the number of prescriptions dispensed has increased by 6.3%, the highest rate of growth over the past decade, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
According to latest available figures $58.8 billion was spent on Hospitals, $54.7 billion on Primary health care and $32.0 billion on other health goods and services in 2013-14.
Darrell Todd of thinkingaustralia says: “The continuing expansion of Australia’s health sector is positive news for trained and qualified individuals seeking to work or migrate to Australia.”
Un-referred medical services such as visits to a general practitioner accounted for the greatest share of Primary health care funding at 19.3%.
‘This was in contrast to earlier in the decade, when benefit-paid pharmaceuticals attracted the most spending in the primary health care sector,’ said AIHW spokesperson Dr Adrian Webster.
Spending on benefit-paid pharmaceuticals slowed over the last three years, despite a steady increase in the number of prescriptions dispensed. In 2013-14, the growth in benefit-paid pharmaceuticals expenditure was 1.0% in real terms, compared with a 6.3% growth in the number of prescriptions dispensed (the highest in the decade).
