Federal hospital funding down

PUBLIC hospital funding from the federal government has fallen over the past decade, a new report shows.The Commonwealth’s share of funding dropped from 45% to 41% between 1995-96 and 2005-06, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report revealed.

At the same time state and territory health funding rose from 46% to 51 per cent.

Health minister Tony Abbott said this was because the states had been “expanding” their spending faster than the Commonwealth.

Health Expenditure Australia 2005-06 found health spending grew by more than 7% from the 2004-05 financial year to $87 billion in 2005-06.