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The Green Party on Health Care
The Green Party acknowledges that there always has been collaboration between the public and private health sectors, but we are opposed to further contracting out and privatisation of the health sector, as we believe it will inevitably undermine our public health system. Further privatisation would involve the private health sector cherry picking’ some services and leaving the public health sector as a sort of safety net for difficult cases. We believe the aged care sector is an example of why we shouldn’t privatise or contract out further health services, or undermine our public health system.
The Green Party opposes private health insurance, as we believe it will inevitably lead to a two tier health system, as has happened in the United States where there is an estimated 40 million people who can neither afford private health insurance nor have any access to a health system.
The Green Party supports existing free dental care for all children under 18, and is concerned that about 50% aren’t accessing it, but it does not advocate subsidising adult dental care.
The Green Party says it supports free doctors’ visits for under-sixes, and wants to progressively fund primary health care so that more New Zealanders have access to affordable health.
While the Green Party says it accepts that Pharmac’s decision to turn down additional funding to extend Herceptin funding from 9 weeks to 12 months is a bitter blow for many New Zealand women, it believes politicians must respect the political independence of Pharmac and the ability of their expert committee to make decisions based on clinical considerations. “If we go down the route of having politicians, not clinical experts, decide on which drugs to fund, we will fund drugs according to which lobby group is the loudest”.
The Green party has campaigned for years to get unhealthy food out of schools, and for Healthy Food guidelines for schools. “We were delighted when the government eventually agreed to such guidelines, which are supposed to require that only healthy food is sold in schools... Getting unhealthy food out of schools is a first step in changing this environment. Other priorities include getting ads promoting unhealthy food off television before 8.30 at night; introducing a traffic light labeling system, and getting vending machines out of schools”.
The Green Party is opposed to opening ACC to competition from the private sector. We want to retain the public provision of rehabilitation and compensation for personal injury, funded through an equitable mix of levies on employers, employees, motor vehicle usage and general taxation. The only people who will benefit from opening ACC to competition, we believe, are overseas insurance companies.