Health Budget targets hospitals, Indigenous gap
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The Rudd Government’s first Budget has allocated $10 billion for a Health and Hospitals Fund to support investment in health facilities, equipment and research.
The Government will scrap the previous government’s Health and Medical Infrastructure Fund. The new fund will use part of surplus revenue.
More than $334 million will go towards closing the 17-year life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Over $101 million of that will be used to address maternal and child health issues in Indigenous communities and $21.5 million will boost health services in the Northern Territory.
The Budget includes $1 billion to relieve pressure on public hospitals and $3.2 billion to address problems in the public health system, such as long witing lists.
Up to $600 million over four years will go towards reducing elective surgery waiting lists in the states and territories.
The Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot says the Government will also spend $138.9 million over five years to encourage thousands of nurses to return to the workforce, providing conditional cash grants of up to $6,000 for those who go back to work.
Queensland will get $100 million to train doctors.
Health initiatives
Thirty-one planned GP Super Clinics, which aim to bring together GPs and other health care providers, have been given $275.2 million.
They were part of Labor’s election commitments to rural and regional Australia.
The Government has also given $25.6 million over four years for health checks for all four-year-old children.
New mothers at risk of depression in the year after pregnancy have been allocated $55 million, with the states and territories asked to give a further $30 million.
Over $780 million has been allocated to dental health initiatives, including $290 million over three years for the State and Territory Governments to fund additional dental consultations.
The fight against binge drinking has attracted $53.6 million and another $15 million will go towards reducing smoking rates, with a further $14.5 million targeting smoking in Indigenous communities.
A total of $62 million will be spent on programs to help Australians avoid preventable illnesses, with a special focus on nutrition and activity scheme to fight obesity.
Aged care
Ms Elliot says $293.2 million over four years will provide an extra 2,000 transition places for elderly Australians who have left hospital.
“The Government, working closely with senior Australians, state and territory and local governments, and the aged care industry, will reform the aged sector to meet changing Australian demographics,” she said.
The Conditional Adjustment Payment (CAP) will be boosted from 7 per cent to 8.75 per cent of the basic aged care subsidy, bringing total Commonwealth investment in aged care subsidies to $28.6 billion over the next four years.
All Australians turning 50 between 2008 and 2010 will be given a free bowel cancer test as part of a $87.4 million program over three years.
The Government had already announced it would raise the Medicare levy income thresholds from $50,000 a year to $100,000 for single people and from $100,000 to $150,000 for couples.
The Government says it will boost the Medicare compliance program, increasing audits on Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) services, to ensure practitioners are billing correctly.
The Health and Hospitals Fund, which will draw its initial $10 billion from surpluses in this year and next year’s budget, will replace the Howard government’s $351.7 million Health and Medical Investment Fund.
Additional funding may be taken from future surpluses.
The fund, to be established by next January 1, will invest in hospital infrastructure, medical equipment and major medical research facilities.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said the fund underlined the government’s commitment to Australia’s long-term future.
“We have no intention of hoarding the strong surplus for its own sake,” he told parliament.
“This money is not ours, it belongs to the Australian people.”
Mr Swan said the fund will be managed by the Future Fund board of guardians and projects will be subjected to “rigorous assessment” by independent bodies.
The government boosted spending on public health by $3.2 billion over five years.
It also will also make more half-a-billion of cuts to programs it considers to have been under used in areas including training, research, pathology and mental health.
Some $780.7 million has been allocated to slash public dental waiting lists and provide dental check-ups for teenagers, however chronically ill people will no longer receive $491.4 million in funding for dental treatment.
Some $600 million will be directed to tackling elective surgery waiting lists in public hospitals but more people are expected use the public health system after changes come into effect that make it easier for people to drop private health insurance.
The government expects to lose almost $300 million in revenue as a result of lifting the Medicare levy surcharge threshold from $50,000 to $100,000 for singles and from $100,000 to $150,000 for couples.
About $53 million will dedicated to tackling binge drinking. However, an advertising campaign initiated by the Howard government warning of the the links between illicit drug use and mental illness will be dropped.
The government will slash almost $170 million from training for enrolled nurses while spending $39 million to encourage nurses to return to the work force.
More than $845 million will be dedicated to listing new medicines on the PBS, including drugs for kidney disease complications and migraines.
After demands from parents, the government has agreed to subsidise the cost of insulin pumps for people aged under 18 with type 1 diabetes from November this year, at a cost of $5.5 million over four years.
The budget also delivered on the government’s election promise to build 31 GP Super Clinics, at a cost of $275.2 million.
The government will spend $4.6 million on getting an extra 600 medical students to undertake part of their training in rural and remote communities
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