The ACT government is still spending the biggest proportion of its tax revenue on health of any state or territory, despite reining the share of funds spent on health in the past four years.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
New figures released in the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's latest annual report on health expenditure show all governments spent a total of $108.2 billion on health in 2014-15, 1.3 per cent higher than the previous year.
Nationally, $161.6 billion was spent on health goods and services in 2014-15, including by private health providers and insurers.
That total was 2.8 per cent higher than the previous year, bringing health spending nationally to 10 per cent of gross domestic product for the first time.
But the rise in government spending was less than a third of the average annual increase of 4.3 per cent seen during the past decade.
The smaller increase was largely driven by a fall in state and territory government spending in 2014-15; the only year in the past decade states and territories combined health spending was less than the previous year.
It was a trend reflected in the ACT's falling proportion of tax revenue spent on health in the past three years, down from a 10-year high of 39.9 per cent in 2011-12 to 32.6 per cent in 2014-15.
The report showed that in the four years since Chief Minister Andrew Barr was first appointed Treasurer, the government has reduced the proportion of ACT tax revenue spent on health by 7.3 per cent.
But the ACT has maintained its position as the jurisdiction with the highest ratio of health spending compared to tax revenue in the country in 2014-15.
On that measure, the ACT was followed by Western Australia at 32.1 per cent, Queensland at 28.5 per cent, South Australia at 27.6 per cent and all other states between 18 per cent and 22 per cent in 2014-15.
The report also showed the combined cost of the ACT's public and private hospitals rose just over $100 million in the past three years, up from $1.103 billion in 2012-13 to $1.23 billion in 2014-15.
That overall increase in costs was generally comparable to rises in other states, although strong conclusions could not be drawn from the data about health spending per person for the ACT, given the high proportion of regional New South Wales residents that are treated in Canberra.
