A National Health and Hospitals Network
The Government is delivering fundamental health reform and significant additional investments which are:
- fully funded over the forward estimates;
- wholly consistent with the fiscal strategy; and
- not adding to the budget deficit.
The National Health and Hospitals Network will be a nationally funded and locally run health network that will ensure future generations of Australians enjoy affordable and universally accessible health care.
The Australian Government will become the dominant funder of hospital services and have full policy and funding responsibility for GP, primary health and aged care.
The Australian Government will leverage its funding responsibility to deliver more coordination, control and accountability at a local level. This includes a new national performance framework to make the system more transparent and drive improvements to ensure all Australians can access high-quality, safe and efficiently run health care.
In addition to these long-term reforms, the Australian Government will deliver $7.3 billion in additional funding over five years including investing in hospitals, providing better access to GPs and primary health care, including primary mental health care, supporting our health workforce and modernising our health system.
Fully funded health reform
The Government's preventative health measure, increasing tobacco excise, will provide $5 billion over five years towards this investment. This increase, along with savings including from better value medicines, means this comprehensive reform is fully funded over the forward estimates and is wholly consistent with the Government's fiscal strategy.
