Posted by Michael Wonder on 21 Aug 2017
Turnbull struggles to deal with funding the nation’s soaring health care demands
21 August 2017 - The Turnbull government will almost reach its cap on hospital funding in the first year of its latest agreement with the states, in another sign that rising health costs remain a political problem.
Before the last federal election, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull struck a deal with the states that the Commonwealth would fund 45% of the growth in activity-based funding, capped at 6.5% nationally each year.
The deal was only finalised in recent months and covers the period from last month to June 2020. The next hospital funding agreement — which normally covers five years but which Health Minister Greg Hunt has suggested could run for a decade — will be finalised in 2018.
