It’s $2 billion more than what the prime minister had put on the table to premiers and chief ministers earlier when renegotiating hospital funding arrangements. “Under our federation system, what that requires is for the Commonwealth, together with states and territories, to work together in the interests of the respective states, but also in the national interest. “That is what we have been provided for with this agreement.”The national cabinet meeting was the last chance for federal, state and territory leaders to agree to hospital funding measures before the current arrangements lapsed. States and territories had insisted the federal government stick to a 2023 agreement that the Commonwealth would increase its share of public hospital funding to 42.5 per cent by 2030 and 45 per cent by 2035. The medical association president said while the amount offered to public hospitals would be beneficial, it would not reach the mark previously called for by states and territories.