Emissions trading scheme will add to hospital and health care bill

The Government’s emissions trading scheme will add $100 million every year to the nation’s hospital bill, Catholic Health Australia (CHA) has told the Australian newspaper.

Its chief, Martin Laverty, fears there will be cuts to health and aged care services without better compensation measures in the Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).

“We’ve got 9,500 hospital beds across Australia, about 10% of the total. The average Australian hospital bed has been found to emit 28 tonnes of carbon per annum, twice that of the average household.

“In year one, using the Government’s $20 a tonne carbon price, it’s going to cost us $10.8 million,” he said. 

“If you transfer our 10% of the health sector to the country as a whole, that’s a $100 million cost impost in one year for all hospitals.”

Mr Laverty said the $10.8million did not include the carbon costs that would be incurred by CHA’s 19,000 residential aged care beds.
 
He accused the Government of forgetting the health and aged care sectors in designing its emissions trading scheme, and called for funding to be indexed to match the expected inflationary impact of the CPRS.

“If you are to impose costs without giving new revenues, the only alternative we would have is to look at cuts to health and aged care services,” Mr Laverty warned.

Mr Laverty said CHA wanted to cut its emissions but needed government assistance with the capital costs of new equipment and facilities.

CHA had raised the issue with the Government but received no response.

“To date they have ignored hospitals, aged and the not-for-profit sector generally.”

A spokesman for Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, said the Climate Change Action Fund provided $1.4 billion over four years to provide capital allowances to community organisations and small businesses to become more energy efficient.

“This funding stream was established in direct recognition of concerns raised by community organisations like Catholic Health Australia,” the spokesman said.