Health was at the heart of last year’s budget. Last night, tax and housing took centre stage, and there were few surprises in health.

Most new health funding goes to previous commitments and continuing programs, including big spending on public hospitals, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and urgent care centres.

The government says this budget is about cost of living, spending restraint, and inter-generational fairness. That is reflected in funding health services that are free for patients, cutting private health insurance subsidies for older people, and cracking down on fraud and waste in Medicare billing.

Although there’s less new reform, there is new spending on prevention, and big changes in Health Minister Mark Butler’s other portfolios of disability and aged care, with big NDIS cuts and moves to expand and improve aged care.

Sustaining public hospitals, the PBS and other programs

This budget was much more about funding existing health services than reform.

The biggest spend is A$25 billion on public hospital funding over five years. This was baked in earlier this year, when the federal government agreed to increase its share of funding in a new five-year deal with the states.

Read more: The government has promised a $25 billion boost to hospital funding – but only hints at real reform

Adding new medicines to the PBS will cost $5.9 billion, including for chronic diseases such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis and some cancers, as well as COVID medications.

The National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement will be extended........

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