This year’s Federal budget has included increased investment in areas such as mental health and aged care, but little specific to eye care or vision. Some of the key announcements included:
- $6 billion for Medicare over the forward estimates, for a combination of targeted investments to expand access to diagnostic imaging, implement some items arising from the MBS review, and progress work on My Health Record
- $736.6 million for mental health, with $461.1m of this to focus on youth mental health and suicide prevention
- $7 billion for aged care, with continuation of the Commonwealth Home Support Programme a key element of this ($5.9 billion)
As expected, while there was significant health expenditure, infrastructure and tax cuts were other major elements of the budget handed down this evening.
There was little specific to the eye health and vision sector in the budget, and of those items that may be of interest to some members, most of them had been announced in advance of the budget.
See below factsheets for our analysis of the budget and its impact on the eye care and vision sector.
Federal Budget 2019-20 Factsheet One – Initial overview from the Department of Health briefing
Federal Budget 2019-20 Factsheet Two – additional analysis – disability and foreign affairs