Premier Anna Bligh has called on the Commonwealth Government to pay Queensland the full cost of providing acute medical care to public hospital patients who should be in nursing homes.

Ms Bligh said the radical restructure of federal-state health funding would free up almost 500 beds every day in over-burdened Queensland hospitals.

"Every day, on average, 468 Queenslanders who need a nursing home bed are in fact in acute care beds in hospital wards," she told a lunch meeting of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government.

"This is a massive drain on the system, $400,000 each and every day.

"Highly-trained staff in the very acute end of the sector providing services to almost 500 people every day who actually need nursing home care, which is considerably less expensive and, from a patient's point of view, much more attuned to their needs."

The proposal is outlined in the Queensland Government's submission to the Federal Government's National Hospitals and Health Reform Commission.

Ms Bligh said current funding arrangements, under which the Commonwealth oversees nursing home services, provided no incentive for the Federal Government to provide more beds in aged care facilities.

"I have no doubt that once there is a hip-pocket implication for every one of those 500 people sitting in an acute care bed, they systems will drive together and work much more effectively," she said.

The Premier also defended the role of states in Australian politics, responding to federal defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon's call yesterday for the states to be abolished.

Ms Bligh said an apparent "head-long popular rush to abandon the states" was alarming and not in the best interests of the community.

"My view is that one of the great strengths of this country are the distinct regions that make it up and they are of course expressed through the states and terrritories," she said.

The presence of states encouraged competition and policy innovation in areas including taxation, education and healthcare, she said.