ACT leader David Seymour is promising no existing services would be cut under its election policy to shift the balance of health funding towards medicines.
And he says Pharmac won’t stop being “hard-ass negotiators” either.
On Sunday, ACT announced a pledge to lift Pharmac’s budget to 12 percent of total health spend by 2033. It’s currently 4.9 percent.
Speaking to Midday Report, Seymour acknowledged that would mean other areas of healthcare would miss out but said “nothing that currently exists will be cut”.
He said the shift would bring about a more efficient and effective healthcare system.
Seymour pointed to Pharmac’s funding of Trikafta for cystic fibrosis, saying lung transplants, which used to be common, were now “nearly unheard of”.
“People have speculated if we were to fund… WeGovy and the like, then we would see, over a decade, less obesity, less diabetes, less kidney disease, less dialysis, less kidney transplants. All of that saves money.”
Seymour said Pharmac deserved a share of the continued increase in health spending.
“Pharmac has been punished because they are so tough on their budget. The rest of the healthcare system doesn’t do that, and they keep getting these increases.
“If people are worried, oh, Pharmac will will take their foot off the throttle. When they were given $604 million extra after the 2024 Budget, they didn’t stop being hard-ass negotiators, I can assure you.”
In the 2026 Budget, the health system received a $1.5 billion funding uplift, but Pharmac got just $13.5m.
ACT’s costings projected that overall health spending would be between $33.4b and $36.6b in 2027/28. Under its policy, that would put the medicines budget between $2b and $2.2b.
By 2033/34, Pharmac’s funding would be between $5.4b and $6.1b, out of a overall spend of $44.9b to $51b.