In the budget this year the government announced funding for health would be a record $15 billion. And we expect it will continue to see new records in the years to come. Under 13s will now get free GP visits and prescriptions too, and more money is being allocated to things like bariatric surgery, elective surgery and colonoscopies.
Sounds good huh? Tell that to the people who are still waiting to get onto a waiting list.
A study by TNS Research showed around 280,000 New Zealanders were in need of elective surgery, with public waiting times commonly in excess of 12 months. The government’s statisticians will tell you there are 110,000 people on waiting lists. This means another 170,000 are not even on the list! So while the kids may be able to get to a GP even after tea time, mum or dad might not find it so easy to get surgery.
Health insurance, ACC, and personal payments provide more than half the elective surgery in this country, and the trend over successive years has been for more and more surgery to be funded outside the public health budget, no matter how big it gets.
Further reading here at the Health Funds Association annual report, published this week.
http://www.healthfunds.org.nz/pdf/2014%20annual%20review.pdf
Regan Thomas