- By Christopher Luxon, National Party leader and MP for Botany
Many more Kiwis will receive essential cancer treatments if National forms a government in October.
Almost every New Zealander will have some experience with cancer in their lifetime – either personally or through a friend, colleague or loved one.
Each year, more than 25,000 Kiwis are diagnosed with cancer and more than 10,000 tragically lose their lives.
But despite the hard work and dedication of New Zealand’s trusted healthcare professionals, cancer survival rates here lag behind Australia.
New Zealanders have a 15 per cent greater mortality from cancer than Australians, a shocking statistic that must be addressed.
There are 13 cancer treatments that have been identified by the National Cancer Control Agency as lifesaving or life prolonging, but they are not currently funded in New Zealand but are in Australia.
The treatments are for lung, bowel, kidney, melanoma, and head and neck cancers that provide significant clinical benefits.
Last week I was proud to announce that a National Government I lead will pay for these 13 treatments to be available in New Zealand.
New Zealanders will not have to leave the country, mortgage their home, or start a funding page to be able to afford potentially lifesaving and life-extending treatments that are proven to work and are readily available across the Tasman.
National will pay for this by ringfencing $280 million in funding to Pharmac over four years and will do this by targeting the free prescription policy Labour recklessly gave all New Zealanders, regardless of whether they could afford to pay it themselves.
National believes some people can afford to pay a $5 prescription charge and would be happy if that funding went into cancer therapies instead.
Superannuitants and those on low incomes will receive free prescriptions.
For everyone else, the total amount any family will pay for prescriptions in a year will be capped at $100.
The cancer treatments will be available to all patients with clinical need, as assessed by their doctors.
For six years, Labour has failed Kiwis on health.
It has conducted a costly and bureaucratic restructure of the health sector, while every single health metric has gone backwards.
Lifting New Zealand’s game on cancer will be a priority for the next National Government.
We have already announced our plan to increase the free breast cancer screening age from 69 to 74 years old, which will save around 65 lives each year.
National will focus relentlessly on delivering better healthcare for all New Zealanders.
We will increase health funding every year, and shift resources from the back-office to the frontline.
