The health policies of the eight parties in Parliament are compared in the table below.
The Herald is covering all the major policy areas in a series running throughout the election campaign.
| Party | Policy | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | Five major hospital re-developments under way. Eight extensive refurbishments and seven new hospitals built since 1999. In some areas has allowed privatisation of laboratory services and charging of private specialists' patients for lab tests. Universal subsidies in primary care have cut average fees to $26. Committed to retaining strong public health system. | |
| National | Will cut the number of health managers and administrators. Same future funding increases as Labour, including $750 million next year. Retain district health board (DHB) system; more sharing of clinical services. Universal subsidies for GP patients and current fees review system will stay. Will build 20 new elective surgery theatres, train 800 extra health workers and contract more work to private hospitals. | |
| NZ First | Free GP visits and prescriptions for all primary school-aged children. Health checks on all year 9 children. Increase elective surgery funding. Reduce foreign-nstudent placements at medical schools. Explore bonding in return for student loan abatements. Move gradually to pay nurses in eldercare the same as DHB nurses. Review process for funding new technology. | |
| Greens | More preventative care, including free annual wellness checks, freeing up hospitals to do more elective surgery. Mandatory patient/staff ratios and pay parity for all nurses. Aged care providers required to finance foundation skills training for their staff. Ten per cent per annum debt write-off for graduates, including health workers, who work in New Zealand. | |
| Maori Party | State funding of obesity surgery extended. Regular prostate checks for men. Hospitals, primary health organisations and district health boards to report adverse events publicly every three months. Mobile dental clinics to serve rural and poor communities. | |
| United Future | Free annual health check. Prostate cancer screening programme. Subsidised basic dental care for those on low incomes. Cut student fees in medicine, nursing. Bonding in shortage areas like pathology. Pay parity for all nurses. Require DHBs to contract private hospitals for those facing long surgery delays. | |
| Act | Tax cuts to allow individuals to buy hospital and specialist insurance. State taxes would still pay for acute hospital care, mental health, cancer care and targeted primary care visits. Community services card re-born for a sliding scale of primary care subsidies based on income. One-off injection of $500 million to clear public-hospital waiting lists. | |
| Progressive | Subsidised dental care for those on low incomes. Later extended to everyone. New-graduate doctors' student loans written off at 20 per cent a year for at least three years if they work in public hospitals. Reduce impact and incidence of cancer. | |
