Older Australians and others living a chronic disease, a mental health condition or a disability will benefit from Exercise & Sports Science Australia's (ESSA) Federal Election Priorities.
“It makes sense on so many levels to support greater access to exercise services to support good health outcomes and a strong economy. Under-investment in prevention, early intervention and the treatment of chronic conditions has resulted in a tide of chronic disease that is drowning an already overburdened health system,” says Anita Hobson-Powell, ESSA. CEO.
“The evidence is clear. Exercise interventions offer high quality clinical and cost effective solutions to help the Australian health care system better respond to the growing burden of disease and help support Australians to lead healthier lives.”
ESSA is calling on candidates for the 2022 Federal Election to support five policy priorities to ensure all Australians can lead healthier, more active lives:
1.
Make exercise physiology services more affordable by removing GST from exercise physiology.
2.
Expand access to exercise physiology for people with chronic disease.
3.
Expand access to exercise physiology for people with mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, other mood disorders and severe mental illness).
4.
Expand access to exercise physiology in aged care.
5.
Increase preventive health investment to 5% of total annual health expenditure.
Ms Hobson-Powell noted that “Health spending has generally grown faster than the rest of the economy over the past 40 years and without changes to prevent and treat chronic disease, the health system will become even more unsustainable. All that is needed is for the next government to make an investment in exercise services a priority.”
For more details on ESSA’s priorities, please click here.
All media enquiries can be directed to
[email protected].