ACT proposes boosting Pharmac’s share of health budget to match Australia
The ACT Party has announced a policy to increase the proportion of the health budget spent on medicines by 1% a year, aiming to close the funding gap with Australia.
The ACT Party wants to lift the share of New Zealand's health budget spent on Pharmac by one percent each year. New Zealand currently spends about 4.9% of its health budget on medicines, compared with 12.2% in Australia. The policy aims to eventually reach parity with Australia and move closer to the OECD average.
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Coverage across the news outlets we track, as at publication.
What outlets are saying
RNZ
ACT campaigns to close the Pharmac funding gap
The ACT Party wants to increase the health budget spend on Pharmac by one percent a year, to bring New Zealand in line with Australia and closer to the OECD average.
Stuff
ACT announces policy to close medicine funding gap with Australia
David Seymour says New Zealand currently spends just 4.9% of its health budget on medicine compared with Australia, which spends 12.2%.
NZ Herald
Medicines to get larger share of health funding under Act policy
New Zealand proportionally spends much less than other comparable countries on medicines.
Newstalk ZB
Medicines to get larger share of health funding under Act policy
Act is proposing to increase the Government’s medicines budget as a proportion of overall health spending with the hope of eventually achieving parity with Australia’s current spending.
1News
ACT campaigns to close Pharmac funding gap
The ACT Party is proposing to increase the proportion of health budget spent on Pharmac by 1% a year, to bring New Zealand in line with Australia and closer to the OECD average.