Budget plea to prevent ill health

By FRANCESCA MOLD

A large chunk of the Government's $2.4 billion boost to health spending should be used to prevent hospital admissions which swallow up most of the sector's money, says the Public Health Association.

The Government said in December that it would provide the extra money over the next three years to pay off ballooning deficits, loosen the financial vice on hospitals and cut the cost of GP visits.

But in a submission to a parliamentary select committee considering this year's Budget policy statement, the association urged the Government to give priority to preventing ill health rather than dedicating large sums to hospitals.

Association director Gay Keating quoted Ministry of Health figures showing that 30 per cent of all hospital admissions were "potentially avoidable".

She said shifting the focus of the health sector and its financing to preventing ill health would save costs.

"The New Zealand experience clearly demonstrates that hospital services will expand to consume any funding available," Dr Keating said.

"Unless funding for prevention is clearly identified, the New Zealand history is that pressure of acute hospital services will override the need for investment."

Dr Keating said the Government had to realise that economic policy could not be separated from social policy.

It was vital that systematic monitoring and assessment of the health and social impacts of Macro-economic policy were undertaken, she said.

Dr Keating urged the Government to continue to develop taxation policies targeted to improving health.

Business NZ told the parliamentary committee that the Budget policy statement was geared to low growth rather than spurring the economy higher.

It recommended lower taxes and said a reduction in corporate tax to 20 per cent by 2010 should be a Government priority.

Business NZ also wants Government spending reduced to less than 30 per cent of GDP by 2005 and to scrap the Super Fund.

It expressed its opposition to linking the superannuation level to the average wage.

The business group said the Government should prove the need to hold commercial assets such as for Kiwibank and Air New Zealand and have a plan to quit those assets.