Minister commended for dismissing flawed recommendations

Health Minister commended for dismissing flawed recommendations

‘New Zealand’s system of health funding is not unsustainable, despite what Treasury and the Ministry of Health would have the Minister of Health believe,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).

“Their recommendations to change the way health is funded are based on the prevailing myth that New Zealand cannot afford public health services at its current rate of spend.

“Health Minister Jonathon Coleman is right to have dismissed these recommendations from the Treasury and Ministry of Health, as they are not the answer to the issues the health sector does need to address.”

Mr Powell referred to the findings of a recent ASMS report Reality Check: The myth of unsustainable health funding and what the Treasury figures actually show. This report highlighted the prevalence, and damaging impact, of claims that publicly-funded health spending has been increasing faster than national income for most of the last 60 years, and that health is continuing to grow as a proportion of both government spending and the economy.

In fact, the ASMS analysis found that contrary to the impressions created in Treasury graphs, the cost of New Zealand’s health services is not outpacing the country’s ability to pay for them. In addition, Vote Health’s operational budgets have been falling as a proportion of GDP over recent years, from 6.56% in the 2009/10 year to an estimated 5.99% in the 2014/15 Budget allocations. New Zealand is among the most austere of government spenders in the OECD.

“What the international evidence does show is that investing in health services can have significant economic benefits,” says Mr Powell.

“The Health Minister is to be commended for not being bowled over by arguments for change that, on analysis, don’t stack up.

“What we do need to see, however, is a greater Government commitment to investment in the specialist medical workforce. We’re looking forward to talking to Dr Coleman further about that, as investing in the senior doctors and dentists who work in New Zealand’s public hospitals is the key to improving the return from the health dollar.”

ENDS

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