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Billions 'wasted' in health system: report
KEVIN Rudd's hand-picked health reform adviser has warned that Australia is wasting much of the $94 billion it spends each year on health services and will not be able to afford even the current, flawed system without major reforms.

The Prime Minister's National Health and Hospital Reform Commission will publicly release more than 120 recommendations in Canberra today, handing the government a blueprint for change, but allowing for "long-term" implementation that pushes the most politically sensitive reforms beyond the next election. Among its recommendations will be taking responsibility for some health services away from the states and giving it to the commonwealth.

The commission, set up early last year to help redesign Australia's health system, will warn that healthcare services, already under strain, will be swamped by the rising tide of chronic illness, an ageing population and costly new health technologies.