Budget 2024: Prescription fees return, but National breaks cancer drugs promise

Thursday, 30 May 2024

From July 15, most New Zealanders will be paying $5 to pick up prescriptions again, but the Government has broken a promise to use this revenue to pay for 13 new cancer treatments.

Thursday’s Budget documents also contain no new funding for Pharmac beyond a pre-Budget announcement.

Labour axed the prescription fees for all a year ago but National promised to bring it back to pay for 13 cancer treatments for solid tumours that are funded in Australia but not in New Zealand. On Thursday it reneged on funding these this year.

Cancer Society chief executive Dr Rachael Hart said it was “heart-wrenching” that “a promise has been taken away”.

Patients had been self-funding cancer drugs since last August to the tune of $13,000 a month “expecting that drug would be funded”.

Those drugs “can be the difference between them seeing their child go to school, or attending a wedding, or making it to Christmas”, Hart said.

Health Minister Dr Shane Reti anticipated “future Budgets will help widen medicine access, including to cancer treatments”.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed prescription fees would return from July 15 for people aged 14 and up, with exemptions for people with a Community Services Card and those aged 65 and over.

Reti said: “The resulting savings will help fund ongoing provision of essential medicines.”

But Tim Edmonds, chief executive of Leukaemia and Blood Cancer NZ, said Pharmac’s funding level would mean no new drugs would be funded for a year.

“Let’s be clear: the situation for the next 12 months is no new medicines will be funded for any condition. That will be unacceptable for the cancer community and the 200,000 plus patients that stand to benefit from the treatments ranked on Pharmac’s options for investment list.”

Pharmac’s options for investment list details medicines the agency would fund if it had the money.

Budget documents reveal the Government has estimated savings of just under $270 million over four years by axing blanket-free prescriptions.

This is less than the $300m savings National had estimated in its fiscal plan before the election.

Pharmac’s funding was limited to a pre-Budget promise to increase its budget by $1.77 billion over four years.

Pharmac declined a request for comment, referring The Post to Associate Health Minister David Seymour’s office.

The total health spend is $29.6b for the year. This Budget includes $3.44b for hospitals and $2.12b for primary and community health over four years.

Labour’s Health spokesperson, Dr Ayesha Verrall, called it “a budget of broken promises for the health system”.

“This barely keeps the lights on in the health system.”

In the House on Thursday, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the Government had not allocated any money to its new health targets which include faster cancer treatment and reduced surgery wait times. “It means other front line services will have to be cut to meet the targets the Government has set.”

The NZ Nurses Organisation kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said the Budget meant “the future of our health system remains worryingly dim'.

'And there’s virtually nothing about growing the health workforce, which is absolutely astonishing and irresponsible in terms of future planning. Does the Government seriously believe the nursing shortage crisis has been solved?'

The Budget includes $22m to train 25 doctors — half the number National campaigned on.

'With 22% vacancy rates amongst senior medical officers in the public health system, we need a greater commitment to train and retain our current workforce. Any reduction from the promise of 50 is a big problem,“ executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, Sarah Dalton said.

Key health spending in Budget 2024:

$3.44b for hospital and specialist services through Health NZ — Te Whatu Ora

$2.12b for primary, community and public health through Health NZ

$1.77b for Pharmac (announced pre-Budget)

$31.2m to gradually extend free breast screening

$31m for increased security at EDs

$22m to train 25 more doctors each year

$24m for free mental health counselling services through Gumboot Friday (already announced)

$9.7m to establish a National Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund