The National Party wants to bring back the $5 prescription fee for those who can afford it and use the money for 13 cancer treatments available in Australia but not in New Zealand.
The treatments would provide “substantial clinical benefit”, according to the NZ Cancer Control Agency, for lung, bowel, kidney, skin, and head and neck cancers.
The treatments would be available to all patients with clinical need, as assessed by their doctors, National leader Christopher Luxon said today while visiting Southern Cross Hospital in Auckland.
The announcement is being welcomed by the Cancer Society, but the Prostate Cancer Foundation says it is “cruelly silent” about prostate cancer treatments.
The cost would be $280 million over four years, funded by altering the Government’s scrapping of prescription fees that was announced in this year’s Budget at a cost of $620m over four years.
National initially opposed the scrapping of the fees, but later said the fee should only be scrapped for those who can’t afford it.
“National will allocate $280 million in ring-fenced funding to PHARMAC over four years to pay for these therapies,” Luxon said.
“We think this is a better use of taxpayers’ money than paying $5 prescription fees for everyone, including those who can afford to pay it themselves. Under National, superannuitants and those on low incomes will receive free prescriptions (via the Community Services Card or SuperGold Card).
“For everyone else, the total amount any family will pay for prescriptions in a year will be capped at $100.”
National estimates that this change would reduce the cost of the prescription subsidy by about $316 million over four years.
“The remaining savings will remain in the health budget,” National’s policy document says.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the policy was “smoke and mirrors”, taking medicines from one group and giving them to another.
He said Labour planned to continue growing PHARMAC’s funding if re-elected, which the Government had been doing.
He also warned that politicians needed to be careful about picking and choosing medicines, noting PHARMAC’s independence.
Costings for National's plan to fund more cancer treatments.
The cancer treatments National identified are:
Osimertinib for lung cancer – first-line therapy
Osimertinib for lung cancer – second-line therapy
Atezolizumab with bevacizumab for liver cancer
Cetuximab or panitumumab for bowel cancer – first-line therapy
Cetuximab for bowel cancer – second-line therapy
Nivolumab with ipilimumab for kidney cancer – first-line therapy
Nivolumab for kidney cancer – second-line therapy
Axitinib for kidney cancer – second-line therapy
Pembrolizumab for bladder cancer
Nivolumab for head and neck cancer
Nivolumab or pembrolizumab for melanoma (adjuvant)
Dabrafenib with trametinib for melanoma (adjuvant)
BRAF/MEK inhibitors for melanoma (unresectable)
‘Cruelly silent’
The announcement was welcomed by Cancer Society medical director Dr Kate Gregory: “A lot of people need these medicines now and can’t afford them. Accessing these medicines will help people with cancer live longer lives.”
But she warned that it needed to come with the “staff and space to administer them”.
National’s health spokesman Shane Reti said that National had not forgotten about unfunded treatments for myeloma and leukemia, but there was currently no advice from the NZ Cancer Control Agency about treatments for those cancers with substantial clinical benefit.
He said when the agency provided such advice, National would be “very interested”.
The Prostate Cancer Foundation also welcomed the extra funding for more treatments, but was “dismayed” that prostate cancer drugs didn’t make the list.
“Not funding the prostate cancer drugs that have been languishing on PHARMAC’s Options For Investment list for years leaves men with advanced prostate cancer suffering unnecessarily and dying before their time,” foundation president Danny Bedingfield said.
“If they are not going to fund drugs to treat advanced prostate cancer, they could at least give men the chance to access curative treatment before these drugs become necessary, and their announcement is also cruelly silent on this.”
Bedingfield said the foundation has been talking to all political parties about a pilot of an early detection scheme similar to the European Union’s, along with further investment in medicines and diagnostic tools such as MRIs.
Reti said that National was “exploring” what could be done in the prostate cancer space.
“If that involves MRIs, the reality is we don’t have enough MRIs in New Zealand, so it’s a wider infrastructure discussion.
“We’re also mindful of the fact that there are few widely-deployed national screening programs for prostate cancer around the world for very good reason. It’s hard to find a really sensitive and specific screening tool.”
Luxon said National would increase health funding every year.
“We will restore health targets, including for cancer treatment times, to drive improvement.”
There was no need for people like himself or Chris Hipkins to benefit from free prescriptions, Luxon said, and the “squeezed middle” would benefit under National’s plan to lift the tax thresholds.
Up to 1000 cancer patients a year would benefit from the treatments National wants to fund, he said.
Overall the health system currently has about 8000 vacancies, and based on current population growth an extra 1600 workers will be needed a year out to 2032, meaning if nothing changes the gap could grow to 25,000 healthcare professionals.
Derek Cheng is a senior journalist for the Herald and a former Deputy Political Editor, whose stints in the Press Gallery in Parliament covered parts of the Helen Clark, John Key, and Jacinda Ardern governments.
