Statement 1: Budget Overview (Continued)
Delivering better health services
Implementation of National Health Reform is progressing well, including the commencement in July 2012 of a new national system of funding public hospitals according to the services they deliver. Under the new funding arrangements, the Commonwealth will provide a guaranteed minimum of $16.4 billion in additional funding for public hospital services over the six years from 2014‑15 to 2019‑20.
A further key reform has been the establishment of 61 Medicare Locals to improve and coordinate the delivery of primary health care services throughout Australia.
In this Budget, the Government is further improving access to health care services and strengthening the system for all Australians by providing:
- $33.8 million in additional funding for the General Practice Rural Incentive Program in 2013‑14 to encourage medical practitioners to move to regional and remote communities;
- $28.0 million over five years to support Medicare including by listing new items on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), funding the Medical Services Advisory Committee to review the quality, safety and cost effectiveness of new and existing items listed on the MBS, and delivering a national communications campaign about the benefits of Medicare and related services;
- $23.8 million in 2013‑14 to maintain existing service levels for the Mental Health Nurse Incentive program which provides coordinated clinical support for people with severe and persistent mental illness; and
- $17.0 million in 2013‑14 to replenish items within the National Medical Stockpile, Australia's strategic reserve of medicines and medical equipment for health emergencies or disasters.
The Government's existing policies are also delivering quality health care for Australians. Increases in the primary care workforce are leading to greater payments under the MBS, and the proportion of the population with some form of private health cover is now the highest in over 20 years, supported by the private health insurance rebate.
World Leading Cancer Care
In this Budget, the Government is investing $226.4 million over five years in a package of initiatives to improve cancer treatment and support services for people with cancer, their families and clinicians including:
- $55.7 million over four years to expand the BreastScreen Australia program to offer mammograms for women aged up to 74 years (increased from 69 years);
- $18.5 million over four years to fund the new Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre and continue support for two existing Research Centres;
- $29.6 million in 2012‑13 and 2013‑14 to increase funding to support the dispensing of chemotherapy medicines to ensure the supply of these medicines to patients;
- $23.8 million in additional funding over four years for the Bone Marrow Transplant Program, to help ensure critically ill Australians who need bone marrow and stem cell transplants have access to these life‑saving procedures;
- $19.5 million over four years to continue and expand the McGrath Foundation Breast Cancer Nurse initiative, with additional nurses supporting regional and outer metropolitan areas;
- $18.2 million over four years to provide support and care for young people living with cancer through the Youth Cancer Networks program run by CanTeen; and
- $16.1 million over four years to meet increased costs for the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.
As part of the cancer package, the Government is investing to improve research into cancer, its causes and the effectiveness of treatments as these developments will underpin improvements in cancer outcomes over time. Key investments in this Budget include:
- $36.5 million over four years for the Victorian Cytology Service's research and data collection work to support the early detection of cervical cancer in women, which contributes to the National Cervical Cancer Screening Program (funding is already included in the forward estimates);
- $5.9 million over four years to continue Cancer Australia's National Lung Cancer Program, which is developing evidence based approaches to treatment and care to improve patient outcomes for Australia's leading cause of cancer deaths in Australia; and
- $2.4 million over four years for Cancer Australia to continue building a national cancer database to provide a better understanding of how cancer might be prevented, detected and treated.
Providing access to medicines
The Government has invested $690.5 million over five years in new listings and amendments to listings on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) since MYEFO. These include providing:
- $452.7 million over five years to list pregabalin (Lyrica®) for the treatment of chronic nerve pain — the first PBS listing specifically for this condition; and
- $220.2 million over five years to list boceprevir (Victrelis®) and telaprevir (Incivo®), two ground‑breaking new treatments for chronic hepatitis C.
Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes
The Government has committed $777 million over three years for a new National Partnership Agreement for Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes which will ensure Indigenous Australians continue to benefit from improved health services. This commitment is in addition to the $3.4 billion Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory package the Government is currently delivering.
Improving the sustainability of the health budget
Total health expenditure has grown in nominal terms by over 40 per cent from 2007‑08 to an estimated $64.6 billion in 2013‑14. Decisions taken by this Government in previous Budgets have already put health expenditure on a more sustainable footing through measures such as the means testing of the private health insurance rebate, which commenced on 1 July 2012 and capping growth in the rebate which is expected to commence on 1 April 2014. These measures allow the Government to continue to provide substantial support for a wide range of health needs, including through the MBS, the PBS and the private health insurance rebate.
In this Budget the Government is also taking additional steps to improve the long‑term sustainability of the health care system by reprioritising health expenditure to ensure funding is appropriately targeted to where it is most needed. Measures in this Budget include:
- aligning the indexation of MBS fees to the financial year in line with many other Government programs meaning MBS fees will be indexed on 1 July rather than 1 November each year. The next indexation will occur on 1 July 2014. This will provide savings of $664.4 million over four years;
- ensuring funding for Medicare items is used more effectively by preventing General Practitioners from claiming a consultation service as well as a Chronic Disease Management item for the same patient on the same day, saving $119.6 million over four years; and
- improving the sustainability of the Extended Medicare Safety Net arrangements by increasing the upper threshold from $1,221.90 to $2,000, from 1 January 2015, whilst retaining the lower threshold for around five million people with concession cards and around two million FTB A eligible families at $610.70, saving $105.6 million over four years.
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