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Labor promises to spend millions more in drug purchasing agency Pharmac and emergency dental care if it forms the government after the election.
The party also plans to implement a major health system reform, which will include cutting the number of DHBs and creating a long-awaited Maori Health Authority.
Labor leader Jacinda Ardern and health spokesperson Chris Hipkins pledged a $ 200 million funding increase for Pharmac over the next four years, as part of the party’s health policy, in Manukau on Tuesday morning.
Ardern, speaking to reporters, said the Labor Party had been working to rebuild the healthcare system and would focus on dental care for low-income people if they were given another term in government.
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Ryan Anderson / Stuff
Jacinda Ardern has promised a $ 200 million funding boost for Pharmac.
Ardern said she was concerned that not all children would have access to comprehensive and free dental care, so the party wanted to expand the number of mobile dental clinics.
“Most of the people who go to the dentist tend to have tooth pain.
“Our approach to dental care begins with children, for the same reason that dental care in childhood often determines dental health in adulthood.”
Ardern said she was proud of the government’s track record in funding Pharmac, and that her party’s intention was to continue that way.
Pharmac buys pharmaceuticals for New Zealanders in bulk. Increased funding likely means that more drugs can be purchased through Pharmac, reducing their cost.
“While Pharmac’s purchasing decisions are outside the government, when we provided a $ 60 million boost to its budget in 2019, it resulted in a range of new drugs, including several new cancer treatments, being funded, and we anticipate a similar result from this additional investment, ”said Hipkins.
The Pharmac funding was the centerpiece of Labor’s $ 1 billion health policy announcement, along with a $ 176 million policy to increase low-income emergency dental health grants from $ 300 to $ 1000.
The party also affirmed its promise to implement a rather radical reform of the health system, although it provided few additional details on how these reforms would be implemented.
In its first term, the Labor Party announced a review of the health and disability system, chaired by former Helen Clark chief of staff, Heather Simpson.
Simpson recommended reducing the number of DHBs, creating a health agency and a Maori Health Authority. At the time the review was finalized, the Labor Party was largely satisfied with the recommendations, in particular the reduction in the number of DHBs.
On Tuesday, Hipkins confirmed those key recommendations would be a focus for Labor if the party wins a second term.
“A central focus of a returned Labor government will be the implementation of our plan to improve the public health system to provide high-quality services, less DHB, a greater focus on equity, a Maori Health Authority that will focus on health. Maori, an elder care commissioner and a public health agency that will more closely link the 12 public health units in the country, ”said Hipkins.
However, there are no details yet of which DHB would get the ax, or details of what that reformed healthcare system would look like, aside from the $ 120 million the party has awarded for the additional bureaucracy represented by the health agency and the Authority. of Maori Health. .
The party said that the Maori Health Authority “will work in collaboration with tangata whenua to establish a Maori Health Authority based on the principles of Te Tiriti and that encapsulates matauranga Māori in its decision-making.”
The Māori Health Authority was a controversial part of Heather Simpson’s review, as most of the people on the review panel, including Maori experts, wanted to give the Māori Health Authority broad powers of commission, something that the Simpson himself did not recommend.
The health agency promised by the party will change the way health care is viewed in New Zealand, but taking some power away from DHBs and the Ministry of Health.
The party’s policy does not provide much detail on this, but says the agency will provide “national leadership and consistency in all basic aspects of public health, including health protection, health promotion and screening.”
Other highlights of the policy include $ 200 million over four years to reduce waiting lists for planned care and the promise to double the number of cochlear implants to 160 a year.
