It comes as no surprise that our health system is becoming the key focus in the lead-up to the July 2 election.
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Both major parties are turning their attention – and their cheque books – to addressing the issues affecting our already struggling health system and its ever-growing financial demands.
Health systems around the world are under ever increasing pressures. Health inflation outstrips normal inflation by a factor of four (it runs about 8 per cent a year compared with regular inflation around 2 per cent).
Health budgets are like a giant black hole – you can throw millions of dollars at any state health system and it will be consumed in just a handful of months, if not sooner.
To its credit, the state government in Tasmania has taken some steps to manage our embattled health system. The Launceston General Hospital alone has seen more than $20 million in infrastructure funding since the state election, not counting the $8 million announced last week for the children’s ward.
The revamp will see the addition of isolation areas with adjoining bathrooms, as well as new facilities for child mental health patients.
Premier Will Hodgman returned from the recent COAG meeting with an extra $54 million in federal health funding, which he described as "very good news".
But as one health analyst pointed out, given the state's population, we should have in fact received closer to $64 million. The $54 million works out to $18 million extra a year, which as part of a total state budget of $1.6 billion for health, won’t stretch too far.
The advent of the federal election campaign has witnessed an explosion of funding promises from both sides of the political spectrum – with Labor in a particularly generous mood.
It’s two big health ticket items so far include almost $1 billion to roll back co-payments for some prescription drugs, and a mammoth $2.4 billion to lift the freeze on Medicare rebates.
Both announcement will undoubtedly benefit Tasmanians, but the pertinent question remains, how will Labor pay for its ever-growing election promises?
With six weeks still to run in the campaign, what else lies ahead for Tasmania’s health funding is yet to be seen. But no doubt both parties right up until July 2 will be making further announcements that we may, or may not be able to afford to pay for.