‘Pay nothing’: Labour pledges to scrap prescription charges if elected
Thursday, 18 June 2026
Labour is promising to scrap prescription charges if elected, removing the $5 co-payment fee for all funded medicines.
The policy would be funded through its targeted capital gains tax (CGT) delivered via its new “Medicard”.
Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall and Labour leader Chris Hipkins announced the policy in Upper Hutt today, saying the party would spend $74.5 million a year to remove the recently reinstated prescription fees once again.
It’s Labour’s third policy announcement in recent weeks, marking a shift after a prolonged dry spell in the lead‑up to the election.
Hipkins said removing the charge would improve access to care, arguing that “by not having to pay the $5 charge, people are less likely to be sick, to live with pain or need to take time off from work for illness”.
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Labour scrapped the $5 fee when it was in Government in 2023, but National later reinstated it in part, keeping exemptions for Community Service Card Holders, under-14s, and people aged 65 and over.
National said the savings from partially reinstating the fee would be redirected to fund 13 cancer treatments available in Australia but not in New Zealand, but that funding did not appear in the 2024 Budget.
Hipkins said the last thing people needed to to worry about was whether they can afford their medicine., saying between 1.5m and 1.8m New Zealanders would benefit from the policy.
“People will be able to see their doctor for free with Labour’s new Medicard, then collect their prescription and pay nothing,” Hipkins said
According to last year’s New Zealand health survey, 155,000 people who were given prescriptions did not pick them up because of the cost.
“Their health problems can get worse - and that costs everyone more in the long run,” Hipkins said.
“Medicine isn't a luxury; it's basic healthcare, and basic healthcare should be there for everyone.”
Free prescriptions would help to stop many medical conditions before they became serious and required specialist treatment or hospitalisation, he said.
Verrall said Labour believed free prescriptions should be accessible to all“ rather than being targeted.
The policy follows Labour’s promise on Tuesday to make all maternity scans free, using its new “Medicard” and funded through its capital gains tax and baseline health funding.
Finance minister Nicola Willis said the free-prescriptions policy did not make sense.
“We are in an environment where there are many New Zealanders who are very much struggling with the cost of living, but broad and targeted policies that provide equal relief to someone on a very high income and someone on a very low income don't seem well-targeted at a time when we need to be getting maximum value for every dollar.”