More detail was released earlier today on the Rudd government "takeover" of health. The idea is that the federal government will remove some of the amount of GST that goes to the states, and will use this money to directly fund the health system. SMH says:

Mr Rudd has also promised a new national health network to bring together the eight state-run systems under one set of "tough" national standards, but says hospitals will be run locally in small groups with local professions given added powers.

A lot of the funding changes revolve around Primary Health Care - that is, the care outside of the hospital network.

This is in line with some of the recommendations of the National Health and Hospitals Reform commission report handed down last year. Part of that says:

Single responsibility for funding primary health care would give clear responsibility and accountability to the Commonwealth Government to formulate a coherent national primary health care policy with identified goals, outcomes and strategies, supported by adequate funding.

The question is, will the opposition - who oppose legislation and then complain that the government is not doing anything - support the legislation or not? And how will the states react?