Labour pledges to make cervical screening free with ‘Medicard’
Thursday, 6 November 2025
The Labour Party is promising free cervical screening to New Zealanders aged 25 to 69 if its wins the next election - the first addition to its recently announced “Medicard”.
Free cervical screening is already available every five years for women aged 25 to 69 and only half of women have to pay.
Labour’s Medicard was announced abruptly last week after details were leaked to RNZ alongside Labour’s capital gains tax (CGT), which will see 28% tax on profit from the sale of properties, excluding the family home and farms.
The Medicard would entitle Kiwis to three free GP visits a year from the proceeds of the CGT from October 2027.
Every New Zealander would receive a Medicard at birth or through gaining residency or citizenship.
The newly announced free screening would be an additional feature on the Medicard, costing $21.6 million in the first year, with the money coming from baseline health spending. The free screening would be separate appointments to the free doctor visits.
The policy was unannounced on Thursday after a tour of the women’s health mobile unit the Mobile Whanau Ora Service, which provides screening services including self-testing - funded under the previous Labour Government.
Labour health spokesperson Dr Ayesha Verrall said the move would prevent cancers and avoid costly hospital treatments.
“Each year 175 New Zealanders are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 55 die from it. Almost everyone who gets cervical cancer in New Zealand does so because they’re not up to date on their cervical screening.”
Free screening meant earlier diagnosis, lives saved, and less pressure on hospitals, she said.
“No one should have to pay for cervical screening when other screening programmes are free.”
Cervical screening is already available for Māori, Pacific peoples, Community Services Card holders and people aged 30 or over who have never been screened before or are overdue, and follow-up testing is also free for everyone.
It is one of the easiest cancers to prevent through early detection and is almost always caused by HPV.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the policy was “a slogan with no delivery plan”.
The challenge with offering free screening was ensuring there were enough skilled staff and the necessary equipment in place, she said.
“I haven’t seen any of that detail from Labour.”
Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said money spent on extra screening could instead go towards treating people who tested positive now.
“I don't think that these kinds of decisions should be made as bumper stickers and political campaigns.”