It has also made prescription medicines free by removing the $5 medicines co-payment.
Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said removing the $5 co-payment from July this year meant about 3 million people would not have to worry about the cost of collecting their medicines. This included about 770,000 people aged over 65 and would have a meaningful impact, especially on low-income households and those who had multiple prescriptions.
“As a doctor, there were times when my patients did not collect their medication and, in fact, we know more than 135,000 adults did not collect their prescription because of cost in 2021-22. This is particularly the case for low-income families, Māori, Pasifika peoples and disabled New Zealanders," she said.
“Free access to medicine will also relieve pressure on the health system. Removing the co-payment charge will help reduce the demand on hospitals and other health services.”
It will cost just under $620 million over four years.
Verrall said it was on top of a 51 per cent increase in the medicines budget since 2017, allowing the Government's drug-buying agency Pharmac to make an extra 212 funding decisions including 75 new medicines.
Budget 2023 supplied more than $200 million in the coming year would be devoted to providing primary and community care closer to people’s homes, reducing pressure on hospitals and speeding up discharge from hospitals through community-based care for older people.
It would also help to reduce waiting lists for planned surgeries by improving patient flow, enabling planned care to be provided in primary settings and freeing up inpatient hospital beds to allow more surgeries to go ahead.
Almost $100m would have a focus on the upcoming winter season, while $118m would be directed toward easing planned care pressures.
Reports of the maximum six-hour wait-time target in hospitals being exceeded were widespread, with admissions from top health officials that hospitals struggled to meet the target.
Verrall recently outlined the Te Whatu Ora-led 2023 Winter Plan, which included 24 initiatives to help support community care and reduce hospital demand.
Measures ranged from supporting pharmacies to treat minor ailments, hospital-in-the-home services, increased access to radiology service in the community and community rapid response tools to lessen hospital admissions for the most vulnerable people.
“Primary and community care are key to reducing pressure on hospital services and providing people the care they need when and where they need it,” Verrall said.
“In 2023/24, we are putting an extra half a billion dollars into primary and community care sector, to support sector stability and to reduce pay disparities overtime between hospital and community health sector staff.”
In April, Verrall and Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare announced a $44m funding boost for primary care providers to deliver high-quality services focused on benefitting Māori and Pacific populations. The funding, which would roll out over two years, would directly impact those with the highest needs in New Zealand.
“This funding will support the establishment of comprehensive primary care teams, build capacity in the workforce, and address the burden of under-funding for Māori and Pacific providers,” Verrall said.
“We will also allocate $4.9m for the training and development of the new kaiāwhina workforce to support these teams.”
A targeted investment of $37m over the next two years was intended to more equitably allocate primary care funding to general practices based on their enrolled high-needs populations, and those providers with the highest Māori and Pacific populations.
Almost 200 additional frontline clinical team members across the country would be resourced across primary, community and rural care to focus on “early intervention, faster treatment and better support for whānau”, Verrall said.
Also referenced in Budget 2023 was the extraordinary cost to correct payments made under the Holidays Act 2003.
It was projected that about $1.6b would be required from Budget 2023 and a further $600m from Budget 2024 would be required for the “remediation and resolution” of historical claims for pay under the Holidays Act.
Increased support for disabled
There will be increased support for disabled people to access disability services and continue "crucial transformation" of disability support services, the Government says.
“Budget 2023 will provide $863.6 million to help ease cost pressures on Government disability support services,” Disability Issues Minister Priyanca Radhakrishnan said today.
“This support will ensure we can meet price increases due to inflation and increases in service volumes due to demand. This includes a demand for individualised funding, which gives disabled people more control over the support they receive.
“Today’s announcement adds to the Government’s record investment in supporting disabled people.
“Our disability system supports over 2.2 million days of care in residential care, and the equivalent of 4.9 million funded support hours through individualised funding.
“Up to 120,000 people access disability support services that include equipment, vehicle, and housing modifications.
“Last year the Government established Whaikaha - the Ministry of Disabled People. Budget 2023 provides investment that continues support for this new Ministry which is transforming the disability support system,” Radhakrishnan said.
Budget 2023 also makes half price fares for Total Mobility services permanent.
“Total Mobility is a bespoke transport service for people who are unable to use public transport due to an impairment. Making this half price permanently is another measure to help disabled people deal with cost of living pressures,” Radhakrishnan said.
- NZ Herald and ODT Online
