Health expenditure
Health expenditure should reflect the relative need for health services – it should be higher for population groups with higher levels of need (AHMAC 2016; Whitehead 1991). One way to assess this is to compare differences in health status with differences in per person health expenditure.
The burden of disease and overall death rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are more than twice those of non-Indigenous Australians. In 2015–16, the average amount of money per person spent on health for Indigenous Australians was $8,949, or 1.3 times that of non-Indigenous Australians ($6,657).
Table 6.3: Average health expenditure per person, 2015–16a
|
|
Indigenous |
Non-Indigenous |
Ratio Indigenous to non-Indigenous |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Hospitals |
$4,436 |
$2,718 |
1.6 |
|
Medicare services |
$1,157 |
$1,074 |
1.1 |
|
Community health services |
$998 |
$331 |
3.0 |
|
Medications |
$558 |
$890 |
0.6 |
|
Dental services |
$414 |
$416 |
1.0 |
|
Patient transport services |
$283 |
$152 |
1.9 |
|
Total health expenditure(b) |
$8,949 |
$6,657 |
1.3 |
(a) Not age-standardised.
(b) Includes other items not listed separately here – see Measure 3.21, Table D3.21.1.
Source: Measure 3.21, Table D3.21.1 – AIHW Health Expenditure Database.
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