Health is still a federal priority

YESTERDAY, the Geelong Advertiser reported that the Government had decreased its health funding in order to try to balance its budget. This is plain wrong.

Wehave made huge investments in health— in 2012-13, the Government will spend $61 billion on health, compared with $44 billion when Tony Abbott was health minister.

We have been able to get better value for money for patients and the government through getting a better deal for medicines from pharmaceutical companies ($1.9 billion over five years).

And the means testing of the private health insurance rebate, making it fairer, will deliver $2.4 billion over three years.

Spending precious taxpayers’ dollars wisely means we can invest $20 billion in public hospitals to deliver more services to Australian patients and $4 billion into dental services.

Health is a priority for this Government and we will continue to direct our investment to get the most value for patients.

Tanya Plibersek, federal Minister for Health