Budget based on health spending lies says Australian Medical Association

A report showing health spending has grown at its slowest rate in almost 30 years makes a mockery of the Abbott government's claims that expenditure is out of control, says the Australian Medical Association.

Expenditure on health reached $147.4 billion in 2012-13, up 1.5 per cent from $142 billion in the previous year, according to an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report.

It's the lowest growth the AIHW has recorded since it began the Health expenditure Australia series in the mid-1980s.

AMA President Brian Owler says it proves that the narrative the federal government has been feeding the public is false.

"The Abbott government has justified its extreme health budget measures on the basis that health spending is out of control. Clearly it is not," he said.