Medicare spending to fall behind hospitals over next 40 years: report
Professor Stephen Duckett says it would be a "bad look" for the Commonwealth to let hospital spending dip.
Commonwealth spending on Medicare is set to lag behind federal investment into public hospitals over the next four decades, new modelling shows.
Released last month, the Federal Government’s Intergenerational Report 2026 predicts healthcare spending to rise from 4% of GDP to 6.2% by 2065-66 as the system grapples with challenges such as an ageing population and growing workforce demands.
At present, the proportion of spending on hospitals and Medicare is currently almost identical — around 1.2% of GDP.
But over the coming decades, hospital spending is set to rise to 2.5% of GDP, while Medicare will only increase to about 1.6%, the report predicts based on projected demographic changes.
