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Business View Australia - January-February 2016 99
& AGED CARE
would have a negative effect on
many important programs that are
already in place or in the process of
being implemented. The PHAA is ex-
tremely concerned with the magni-
tude of the cuts and is working with
a range of organisations to try and
mitigate the effects of the budget
reductions.
It has taken upon itself the task
of highlighting the issue that reduc-
tions totalling approximately $800
million are being applied to non-gov-
ernment organisations across the
board within the health portfolio.
Being extensively involved in the na-
tion’s health sector, the PHAA is well
positioned to understand the impli-
cations of these budget reductions.
The government has revealed that
$596.2 million is to be cut from the
Health Flexible Funds over the next
four financial years. This is in addi-
tion to reductions totalling $197.1
million announced in the previous
year’s budget. Hence the total cuts
are in the region of $793 million with
no clarity on where these reductions
will be made.
The fact that the funding contracts
for most NGOs will expire by the end
of 2015 or on 30 June 2016 is great
cause for worry. It is expected that
the budget cuts will have a signifi-
cant effect in several areas including
the provision of essential services in
remote regions, managing respons-
es to communicable diseases and
delivering substance use treatment
services around the country.
It is pertinent to note that the
OECD’s most recent figures show
that health spending in the United
States is at a level of 16.4% of GDP
in 2013. While this is much higher
than the OECD average of 8.9% of
GDP, Australia’s health expenditure
is at 8.8%.
Another important role played by
the PHAA is that it promotes specif-
ic programs and initiatives that are
linked to public health. It has recent-
ly partnered with the Foundation for
Alcohol Research and Education to
take up the issue of chronic diseases
and launch the
Prevention 1
st
cam-
paign, which aims to get the govern-
ment and political parties to adopt
a strong preventive health agenda
to address the country’s greatest
health challenge.
The
Prevention 1
st
campaign seeks
to highlight the fact that chronic dis-
eases are responsible for 83% of all
premature deaths in Australia, mak-
ing it the nation’s greatest health is-
sue. The incidence of conditions like
heart disease, stroke, heart failure,
chronic kidney disease, lung disease
and type 2 diabetes has been in-
creasing in the country and stretch-
ing the resources of the health
system. These diseases cost the
community $27 billion and account
for more than a third of the health
budget.
Recently the PHAA has also joined