Federal Cuts Strain NSW Hospitals

0:00It's April 23rd. Welcome in. This is Sydney News today, where local news meets AI. The federal government just announced cuts to the private health care rebate for Australians over 65, aiming to balance things out across. Generations. They're also kicking about 160,000 people off the national disability insurance scheme and tightening budgets for the rest. New South Wales Premier Chris Minnes is sounding the alarm, saying these moves from Canberra will slam state emergency rooms hard. Hospitals in New South Wales are already jammed because they can't discharge elderly patients waiting for aged care spots. These so-called stranded patients jumped 50% in the year to December 2025 with 776 folks stuck in beds. That month alone. Minnes is calling out the feds, stressing that tiny policy tweaks made behind closed doors ripple straight to places like Mount Drew its emergency department. He's pushing for more federal cash in aged care and primary services to ease the load

1:02on state hospitals. Latest data from the Bureau of Health Information shows emergency visits hit record highs in late 2025, the worst since tracking started. In 2010, on top of that, one in every 10 patients needing a bed waits over a day to get in. With public hospitals under this kind of strain, any extra federal pressure just makes it tougher states like New South Wales need that partnership. Now more than ever to keep things moving.