HEALTH spending reached 10% of Australia's Gross Domestic Product for the first time, despite the growth in spending remaining slow, according to a new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The report shows that $161.6 billion was spent on health goods and services in 2014--15.
While this was $4.4 billion (2.8%) higher in real terms than in the previous year, it is the third consecutive year that growth was below the 10-year average of 4.6%.
"This suggests that while growth in health spending is slow, it is faster than growth in other areas of the economy," said AIHW spokesperson Dr Adrian Webster.
Total health spending by governments at $108.2 billion was reportedly 1.3% higher than in the previous year, less than one-third of the average annual increase over the decade of 4.3%.
"The slow growth in government spending was mostly driven by a fall in state and territory government spending---the only time this occurred in the decade," Webster said.
26% of the total spend, $42b in 2014-15, came from the states and territory governments representing a fall of 0.4% in real terms on the previous year, compared with an average annual growth of 4.8% per year, Webster said.
The Australian Government contributed $66.2b (41% of total spending), up by 2.4% on 2013--14 compared with average annual growth of 4.0%.
Individuals, private health insurance and other non-government sources provided the remaining $53.4b or 33.1% of the total, the report said.
Out-of-pocket health costs for individuals grew by 3.7% with 6.8% growth in private health insurance.
Growth in non-government expenditure in 2014-15 was higher than for government at 5.9% and above the average annual growth over the decade of 5.4%.
CLICK HERE to access the report.
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