A Timely Reminder to Canberra - Good Health Boosts Productivity

A fairer balance between Commonwealth and State funding for health would be good medicine for national productivity as well as patients, Queensland Health Minister Stephen Robertson said today.

Mr Robertson will raise this issue at a major health conference in Sydney ahead of the meeting of Australian Health Ministers to discuss national health funding and reform.

He will also warn that health funding must not fall victim to the Commonwealth’s razor gang when the current Australian Health Care Agreement is replaced in July this year.

Mr Robertson, also Chair of the Australian Health Minister’s Council, said COAG had already recognised the relationship between health and productivity nearly two years ago.

The 2006 COAG Communique declared that: “A healthy, skilled and motivated population is critical to workforce participation and productivity and hence Australia’s living standards”.

It also stated: “Good health underpins the wellbeing and quality of life of Australians. Preventing ill-health and improving physical and mental health helps people to participate in work and makes them more productive when they do so”.

“Based on the work commissioned by COAG in 2006, the nation enjoys a productivity dividend from boosting funding to health services that help people avoid illness or help them return to the workforce after suffering illness or injury,” Mr Robertson said.

“If the Commonwealth wants to enhance productivity growth and lift workforce participation then it makes perfect sense to restore its funding effort to match the States and Territories.

“Australia’s health and economy will be all the better for it.

“But they need to step up in 2008-09 and not wait another year for the new reform commission to hand down its recommendations.”

Mr Robertson said the Productivity Commission found the participation rate for Australians with cardio-vascular disease is nearly 20% below that of Australians without that condition whilst for diabetes it’s 24%, major injury 20%, cancer 12%, arthritis 18.5% and mental health a massive 40%.

He said for the first time health think tanks need to look at the health system across the board as an integrated whole.

“Emergency departments in Queensland experienced a 9.7% increase in attendances in the December 2007 quarter compared to the same quarter in 2006 – nearly 5 times the rate of population growth – on the Gold Coast the increase was 35%,” he said.

“This massive growth is occurring while the GP’s to population ratio is dramatically declining making it increasingly difficult for the community to access a GP.

“Between 1998-99 and 2004-05, the number of full-time GP’s per 100,000 population declined from 94 to 82 – a 12.7% reduction.

“Instead of criticising the States for underperforming, let’s consider the reasons why our public hospitals are treating record numbers of patients every year.

“A decade of the Commonwealth dropping the ball on their responsibilities would be a great place to start.

“Pressures on public health services will only worsen and before long become unsustainable if the Commonwealth simply rolls over the current Australian Health Care Agreement with existing indexation rates that are below the rate of inflation let alone the soaring cost of providing health services.

“States can’t survive a continuation of the former Howard Government’s discriminatory funding regime.

“Over the past five years the Commonwealth increased its funding by 20% while granting increases of 38% over the same period to health insurance premiums in response to the pleas from health funds about the increasing costs of providing health care.

“And an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report last year found the Commonwealth had decreased its share of public hospital funding from 45% to 41% since 1995-96.”

MEDIA: Joshua Cooney 3234 1185 / 0409 069 056