Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Government have announced an $18 million boost to cover the costs of New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment. Photo / Michael Craig
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Government have announced an $18 million boost to cover the costs of New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment. Photo / Michael Craig
OPINION
The Government last week announced an $18 million boost to cover the costs of New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment.
This increase in the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme is a courageous move amid the tight economic conditions.
The context here is important. Ithas been 15 years since the last time this funding was increased - despite inflation, a rising population and growing social complexity.
This National-led Government deserves credit for ensuring this has finally arrived, but this isn’t a silver bullet that will, overnight, ensure every Kiwi child who needs medical attention gets the treatment they need.
New Zealand is still without a sufficient system in place to ensure the funding continues to grow to meet the increased demands being placed on our healthcare system.
There has to be a better method than relying on charity groups to lobby for more money every few decades and hoping the Government of the day delivers. What happens if successive governments in the future again ignore the call for increased funding?
A better system would see the funding tied to the cost of living and increased accordingly year-on-year to meet the evolving needs of Kiwi families.
Another lingering issue that will not be corrected by this increased funding is the eligibility criteria for access to this travel assistance, giving families financial relief for transportation and accommodation costs.
The current criteria insist that families applying for the support must live at least 80km away from the healthcare facility to qualify for the funding (except in specific circumstances). Provisions like these feel like a box-ticking exercise far removed from the realities of the modern experience, ultimately leading to families’ preclusion from accessing the healthcare they need.
Ronald McDonald House Charities New Zealand chief executive Wayne Howett.
The financial impact of 80km isn’t uniform from one family to another. Some of us drive comfortably in leather-bound seats, while others have to borrow a car from a cousin on the day she’s not working.
In recent years, we’ve worked with many families living as close as South and West Auckland who simply couldn’t afford to catch a bus to the city’s main hospital for treatment. For these families, it’s often a choice between buying bread for the week or taking their child to the specialist they need to see.
The point here isn’t to provoke sympathy for the families. It’s to show the need for a more equitable system that takes into account whether the family can afford to make the trip regardless of how far it might be.
No family should have to choose between a meal and healthcare.
What’s more, families that do qualify for the funding often don’t know that they could access it because the initiative isn’t promoted actively. What good is funding if those who need it most don’t even know it exists? We have to do a better job of communicating to these vulnerable families that they have access to these funds.
Beyond this, it’s also time for the system to be updated to better reflect the immediate needs of the families. At least part of this $18m investment should be put towards making the funds more accessible to families when they need it. As things stand, families often have to pay out of their own pockets and then wait for the system to refund them that money.
This, again, creates a barrier that many families simply can’t cross.
Data released this month revealed 480,000 were behind on debt repayments in January, up from 439,000 the month before.
With unemployment growing and the job market becoming tighter than it’s been in years, the strain on Kiwi families living pay cheque to pay cheque will only worsen over time.
Expecting any of these families to fork out additional money to pay for travel costs, unfortunately, leads to tough decisions that no Kiwi family should be forced to make.
Those choices often mean delaying essential treatment for someone suffering or opting for inferior treatment just because it’s a little closer to home. In the longer term, this leads to a greater burden on the healthcare system because these vulnerable Kiwis end up staying sicker for longer than they need to or face additional health consequences on account of not seeking treatment early enough.
Making sure vulnerable families receive the financial support they need to get their loved ones to the hospital isn’t only morally right, it’s also the fiscally responsible thing to do.
