Strategy needed to avert health funding crisis - HFANZ

Strategy needed to avert health funding crisis - HFANZ

A strategy to avoid a looming public health financing crisis is among recommendations from the health insurance industry contained in a briefing paper for Government ministers released today.

In its briefing paper, the Health Funds Association (HFANZ) warns of the unsustainable growth in public health costs under present policies, noting that New Zealand is out of step with other countries by not tackling the growing dependency on public financing.

The briefing compares the projected growth of public health costs to the rise in superannuation costs and notes that the looming health financing problem is even bigger than the super problem. The gap between present and future costs equates to four percent of GDP for health and three percent of GDP for super, HFANZ chief executive Roger Styles said.

The paper recommends the establishment of an independent commission to engage widely on options and strategies for addressing the future unsustainability of public health spending.

The reduction in insurance coverage over past decades is referred to as a “lost opportunity”, with insurance coverage down to just under 30 percent of the population. Despite this, the industry maintains there is capacity to grow the funding contribution – currently around $1 billion in claims annually, mainly for elective surgery. The paper suggests health insurance

could feasibly fund up to 10-15 percent of total healthcare spending, up from the present 5 percent.

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1411/Briefing_for_incoming_minister_2014.pdf

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