In 2008-09, total health expenditure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was estimated at $3,700 million. The average health expenditure per person for Indigenous Australians was $6,787, compared with $4,876 for each non-Indigenous Australian. Correspondingly, the Indigenous to non-Indigenous per person health expenditure ratio was 1.39. This report, the sixth in the series, again shows that Indigenous Australians are more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to rely on public hospital services. In 2008-09, per person expenditure on public hospital services for Indigenous Australians was more than double that for non-Indigenous Australians - an expenditure ratio of 2.25.

This report presents estimates on health expenditure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their non-Indigenous counterparts for 2008–09. It is the sixth report in the series, which started in 1998 for the 1995–96 expenditure year, and builds on the information contained in previous reports.

Related article: Playing number games with Indigenous Australians' health, published at The Conversation. Read the original article.