Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question. The health system, as we inherited it from Labor, is unsustainable. In our country, with a population of 23 million people, the taxpayer currently funds 263 million free services a year under Medicare and, if we are to have a strong and sustainable health system into the future, that figure is not sustainable. Ten years ago we were spending $8 billion on the MBS. Today it is $19 billion, and in 10 years time it is forecast to be more than $38 billion. Australia is faced with an ageing population and with Medicare benefits growing at an alarming rate. Similarly, in public hospitals, where 10 years ago we were funding $7.5 billion, today it is about $14 billion a year, and in 10 years time the figure will climb to $36 billion. We have a growing burden of chronic disease and increasing pressures and costs on our health system. Almost 63 per cent of adults are overweight or obese and so are 25 per cent of children.

To understand what we are facing, let me further highlight it in this way: by 2020 the number of Australians with dementia is estimated to reach almost 400,000 people. In that year it is expected that 155,000 Australians will be diagnosed with cancer, up 17 per cent from 2014. These are projections for 2020 and they are a snapshot of what we can expect over the coming decades. This government intends to provide the leadership and make the tough decisions to ensure a sustainable health system into the future. We need to make changes so that we can strengthen the health system for tomorrow and make it sustainable for our future generations.