The Federal Government’s health expenditure on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations has hit $4.6 billion, or 3.7 per cent of the total health expenditure, in the 2010-11 period, according to a new report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The Expenditure on health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 2010-11 found that the spend equated to $7,995 per Indigenous Australian.

“For non-Indigenous Australians, $5,437 was spent per person,” said AIHW spokesperson Teresa Dickinson.

“This is an Indigenous per person ratio of 1.47-that is, $1.47 was spent per Indigenous Australian for every $1.00 spent per non-Indigenous Australian.”

This ratio was an increase from the 2008-09 figure of 1.39.

In 2010-11, publicly-provided services such as public hospital and community health services were the highest expenditure areas for the Indigenous population.

“The average per person expenditure on public hospital services for Indigenous Australians was more than double that for non-Indigenous Australians-$3,631 compared with $1,683,” Ms Dickinson said.

Conversely, for health services that have greater out-of-pocket expenses, such as pharmaceutical and dental services, Indigenous expenditure is generally lower relative to the non-Indigenous population.

“The average per person expenditure on dental services was $149 for Indigenous Australians, compared with $355 for non-Indigenous Australians,” Ms Dickinson said.

“These differences reflect different patterns of service usage.”