2025-26 Labor Government Budget proposals as they relate to Health:
In a rare 4th budget announcement within a single term of government, the Labor Treasurer, Hon Jim Chalmers, appealed for stability and the chance for a second term for Labor to guide Australians through “uncertain times”. The budget has a strong focus on cost-of-living pressures and continued focus on “strengthening Medicare”. Read on for a line-by-line breakdown of health-related spending.
$7.9 billion over 4 years to incentivise general practices to become fully bulk-billing clinics with incentive eligibility expanded to cover all Australians
- Goal to have nine out of ten GP visits bulk billed by 2030
- Good for cost of living and putting focus on primary care
- Neutral for pathology technology sector
- Opportunity to position POCT to add value to GP consult and support prevention measures particularly in relation to key chronic health conditions
$1.8 billion one-off boost to public hospitals to reduce elective surgery, ambulance ramping and ED wait times
- Increased hospital funding to states and territories by 12 per cent
- Good to reduce burden on hospitals
- Neutral for pathology technology sector
- Opportunity to position POCT to assist with patient triage
$1.8 billion to expand the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to include new medicines with focus on women’s health with new contraceptive pills and menopausal hormone therapies
- Amongst backdrop of US Government submission from Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturing of America (PhRMA) calling out Australia’s PBS as “egregious and discriminatory”, with media interpretating the letter as a plea to Trump to put tariffs on pharmaceuticals for Australian market
- Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks attempting to cool the conversation and reduce reputation impact of ‘Big Pharma picking on the PBS’ clarified that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee’s (PBAC) slow approval process is a non-tariff trade barrier impacting availability of access to market and fair principles of valuation
- Neutral for pathology technology sector with respect to the ongoing review of the Health Technology Assessment process initiated by Medicines Australia and encompassing diagnostics only in relation to the prescription of medicines
- Opportunity to learn from the dialogue and exchange between Australian and US government to be proactive in the case of any potential focus on pathology technology exports from US
$784.6 million over four years and $236.4 million annually thereafter to reduce PBS general patient co-payment, from $31.60 to $25.00
- Goal to ease the financial burden of medicine costs on households
- Neutral for pathology technology sector
$606.3 million to expand GP training and incentivise junior doctors to enter general practice
- Fully-funded GP training places increase by 900 places over 3 years, on top of the 1,500 Australian General Practice Training program,100 Rural Generalist Training Scheme, and 32 Remote Vocational Training Scheme, resulting in over 2,000 Commonwealth-funded GP places commencing each year from 2028
- Securing government focus on primary care
- Opportunity to position POCT to support scope of practice expansion across primary care settings including GPs, pharmacies, community clinics, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, and Urgent Care Clinics
$657.9 million budgeted for 50 additional Urgent Care Clinics, making total 137 clinics nationwide
- Goal to have four out of 5 Australians within 20-min drive of an UCC
- Good to reduce burden on hospital EDs
- Neutral for pathology technology sector
- Opportunity for POCT to add value to UCC consult, support preventative measures for key chronic health conditions, and to support quality care for transient or under-served populations
$150.3 million to extend Zero Childhood Cancer Precision Oncology Medicine Program (ZERO), Precision Oncology Screening Platform Enabling Clinical Trials (PrOSPeCT) program, and the Australian Rare Cancers Portal (ARC Portal)
- Extending genomic sequencing and targeted therapy cancer care under ZERO currently covering all children with cancer (0-18 years) to people aged 19 to 25 with paediatric type cancers
- Goal to support an additional 300 young Australians with cancer each year, totalling approximately 1300 children and young people annually
- PrOSPeCT provides comprehensive genomic profiling free of charge to patients with advanced, incurable or poor prognosis cancers, and has matched therapies for more than two-thirds of the 5,000 patients it has profiled
- In 2024, more than 40,000 Australians were diagnosed with rare or less common cancers, which account for a quarter of all cancer diagnoses, and a third of all cancer deaths, the Rare Cancers Portal ensures access to expert advice and the best possible care, regardless of where someone lives.
- Good for pathology technology sector supporting increased genomic testing
- Opportunity to position genomic testing to be standard of care for all cancer patients
$135.2 million over four years to support digital mental health services
- Goal to allow 12 leading mental health services to provide Australians access to digital and online mental health support
- Opportunity to position pharmacogenomics in the mental health space
$109.1 million over four years to support two trials for patients to access contraceptives and treatments for uncomplicated UTIs directly from pharmacies
- Goal to breakdown barriers to access of quality care especially in rural and remote areas
- Opportunity to position PoCT to support expanded scope of practice in pharmacy settings
$22.9 million over five years to tackle IV fluid shortages.
- Goal is to expand domestic manufacturing, establish a panel of suppliers, and conduct a clinical review
- Good for Australian manufacturing and securing supply chains of critical health products
- Opportunity to position need for sovereign capabilities for critical diagnostic technology
PTA will continue to advocate for a cohesive and pro-active investment in a technology-driven evolution of healthcare services. Less that 2% of Australia’s healthcare budget is dedicated to pathology, which informs over 70% of all patient diagnosis and management decisions and 100% of cancer and contagions diagnosis. Investing in Australia’s healthcare future means investing in the pathology technology that will transform healthcare to be more predictive, preventative and personalised. This is a generational change that needs to start now!