A UK report has decided that with their current population growth, aging population and inflation rate, the health budget in the UK needs to increase by a minimum of 5% every year just to maintain the current level of service and allow for new technologies.The New Zealand’s health financing and expenditure report reveals that for the past seven years (since 2019) the Ministry of Health has not submitted data to the OECD leaving the organisation to estimate our spending and the estimates are incorrect.
The OECD estimated the New Zealand government spent 9.15 percent of GDP on health in 2022 and 8.83 percent in 2023. However, our research shows when OECD over-estimates and the temporary impact of COVID-19 are adjusted for, spending was more likely around 7.5 percent of GDP in 2022 and 8.15 percent in 2023,” Professor Tim Tenbensel from Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, says. Tenbensel co-authored the report with Professor Paula Lorgelly, also from Waipapa Taumata Rau.
New Zealand is the only country not to have submitted its results to the OECD.
Government guessing when it comes to health – University of Auckland
The Ministry of Health has not submitted data to the OECD for many years, leaving the organisation guessing, say two professors in a report commissioned by the senior doctors' union.www.auckland.ac.nz
Given that NZ’s population and inflation rate growth rates are about the same, to not go backwards from the current systems, NZ Health should be receiving just under $40 billion in 2028…. but, according to Treasury prediction based on the Coalition’s projected budget spend, they’ll be receiving $37 billion…. that’s a shortfall of $3 billion in the health budget below what’s required just to maintain the current system,
While it’s true the health system has never received as much money as it would have, it’s not enough given inflation, population growth and aging population…. more money is just spin from Brown and Willis when it means the system is going backwards because the increases aren’t enough…. Oh, and by the way….. the increases weren’t enough under Clark and Cullen, Key and English or Ardern and Robertson.
NZ Budget 2025: anything less than a 5% increase in health funding amounts to merely standing still
New Zealand spends less on public health as a proportion of GDP than similar countries. Without a significant boost, the health system will remain stressed.
theconversation.com
