14 May 2026
Tuesday 12 May 2026
This year’s Federal Budget is focused on easing cost of living pressures. But it falls short of what Australians need in the face of a growing health affordability crisis. People don’t all start from the same place, equal access on paper does not translate into equal access in real life.
This Budget recognises that someone’s health is shaped long before they walk into a clinic. But financial stress, housing insecurity, caring responsibilities and the pressures of everyday life don’t stay outside the health system for long. The real test is whether people can actually use the care and support available to them in everyday life.
The gap is no longer simply between rich and poor. Increasingly, it is between people who can easily navigate the system and people who can’t.
This Budget maintains investment across key parts of the health system, but it does not yet represent the scale of reform needed to address the growing complexity consumers face when trying to access care.
Because when life is complex, healthcare becomes harder to reach, coordinate and sustain. And too often, the burden of holding that complexity together falls back onto consumers, families and carers themselves.
We were pleased to see specialist out-of-pocket costs elevated as a national priority after more than a decade of advocacy by CHF and many others. The Government will provide $3.2 million over two years to undertake consultation on further reforms to improve the private healthcare system, and a further $2.1 million in 2026–27 to commission specialist advice to inform future affordability reforms.
For many consumers, specialist costs have become one of the fastest-growing barriers to accessing care. This announcement signals growing recognition that out-of-pocket costs are placing real pressure on households and creating barriers to timely treatment.
We welcome the Government’s commitment to tackling this issue and look forward to contributing to the next phase of reform. Consumers need to see practical change that reduces costs, improves transparency and makes specialist care more accessible in real terms.
The Government has also announced $431 million over four years to support dental services for eligible adults. Expanding access to the Child Dental Benefits Schedule through state services is a positive step and will help more children receive much needed treatment. But overall dental funding remains lower than the previous year, despite growing unmet need.
Dental health is not a luxury. Untreated oral disease causes pain, impacts nutrition, education and employment, and ultimately places greater pressure on the broader health system. The people paying the highest price are those least able to afford care. And what’s missing matters too.
There is very little in this Budget focused on helping people navigate the health system itself. Little recognition that many Australians are already struggling to manage increasingly complex systems while balancing work, caring responsibilities, housing stress, disability, ageing, transport barriers and rising everyday costs.
Families are coordinating care across multiple providers. Carers are managing appointments and medicines. People are trying to stay well while holding life together.
Healthcare only works if people can use it in real life. That means building a system that is not only funded, but easier to understand, access and navigate.
That remains one of the biggest unfinished reform tasks in Australian healthcare.
I shared my post budget thoughts on video, you can watch it here and share your own thoughts about tonight’s announcements.
Warm regards,
Dr Elizabeth Deveny
Chief Executive Officer
