Funding for primary care as a proportion of total government healthcare spend is in decline (Figure 30), and funding for GPs and general practice services is less than 8% of total health expenditure in Australia. Chronic disease expenditure in Australia is heavily weighted towards tertiary healthcare, with 61% of spending going to public and private hospitals compared to 8% to general practices.34 This limits the ability of GPs to provide preventive care for patients with chronic diseases and ignores the overwhelming evidence of the health benefits and economic savings that could be achieved by investing more in primary healthcare.35
The 158 million services GPs provided in 2018–191 represent only 7.4%§ of total government health spend, with the investment in general practice health services totalling $9.85 billion.36,37 The same year saw 11.5 million hospitalisations, 8.4 million emergency department presentations and 39 million non-admitted service events – totalling around 59 million services38 that cost federal, state and territory governments $61.8 billion.37
‘
Taken together, this means GPs provide more than twice the number of episodes of care a year than hospitals, for one-sixth of the expenditure amount.’
Australian healthcare expenditure is projected to increase faster than ever over the next 40 years, growing from 19% of total government spending in 2021−22 to 26% in 2060−61. Funding for public hospitals is projected to be the fastest-growing component, nearly doubling between 2020−21 and 2031−32. Per-person spending on public hospitals is expected to rise from $880 in 2020−21 to $1190 in 2031−32. MBS spending per person will increase from $1110 to $1280 between 2020−21 and 2031−32, while Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) spending per person will increase from $540 to $590 over the same period.39