Responses are published as received, without editing. Parties are presented in alphabetical order.
Policy Question
Yes. ACT would increase the share of the health budget spent on medicines by one percentage point each year, reaching parity with Australia in 2033. The full policy is available at: https://www.act.org.nz/closing-medicines-gap
No New Zealander should have to empty their savings, uproot their family, or leave the country to access medicines Australians receive as a matter of course. New Zealand spends just 4.9 per cent of its health budget on medicines. Australia spends 12.2 per cent, while the OECD average is 13.3 per cent. Australia funds 142 modern medicines that are not funded in New Zealand, and 38 per cent of those are cancer medicines.
The Green Party are committed to increasing sustained funding for Pharmac so it can invest in new medicines, including the Options for Investment list. While we do not have a specific commitment to a scope and timeframe for this work, we are supportive of increased Pharmac funding along with other preventative health investment, in primary care and public health.
We want New Zealanders to have greater access to similar medicines that are available overseas. Labour supports the role that Pharmac plays in relation to funding specific drugs and it is important that Pharmac makes progress towards international best practice. Labour will actively look for opportunities to increase medicines funding over time.
A re-elected National Government will deliver a further $604 million uplift in Pharmac’s medicines budget, building on National’s track record of expanding access to new cancer and other life-saving medicines. The last time National made this investment, it delivered 66 new medicines benefiting hundreds of thousands of Kiwis, including 33 new cancer treatments. Pharmac will be able to fund new cancer and other life-saving medicines that aren’t currently available here and widen eligibility for treatments that are already funded so more people benefit from them.
Link: More medicines and earlier care – policy | Full policy (PDF)
Did not respond
Our Healthy People policy commits to a cross-party, ten-year Health Plan. It would lift total health system operational funding from about 7.4% to 9% of GDP, meet cost pressures in full every year, and fund new initiatives on top of that rather than out of it. We believe the experts who run the system, not politicians, should decide how funding is split within it. So while we have not committed to funding Pharmac's Options for Investment list, we expect our plan would deliver both more funds for medicines, and less need for expensive medicines as we prevent more disease and detect it earlier.
Response received after the deadline
Te Pāti Māori will increase PHARMAC funding to clear the Options for Investment list by 2030.
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Policy Question
ACT’s medicines funding policy would see New Zealand’s medicines funding reach parity with Australia by 2033. This would see around a tripling of the Pharmac budget over this period. This would bring New Zealand much closer to the OECD average.
ACT is seeking cross-party support for this pathway. Medicines funding affects families across every community, and patients deserve confidence that progress will continue regardless of changes in government.
Yes, the Green Party are supportive of committing to a long-term funding plan to work towards aligning our medicines spending with that of over OECD countries.
Yes. We want New Zealanders to have greater access to similar medicines that are available overseas. Labour supports the role that Pharmac plays in relation to funding specific drugs and it is important that Pharmac makes progress towards international best practice. We will aim to develop timeframes for this in government.
National has put patients back at the heart of the health system, delivering the largest ever boost for new medicines and expanding free screening nationwide. Now we want to go further, getting more medicines to Kiwis and catching cancer early, when it is most treatable. Budget 2026: more than $5.8 billion in new operating funding across the forecast period, including a $1.37 billion annual uplift – taking total health spending to $34.2 billion in 2026/27.
Did not respond
While we have not set a medicines-specific target or an OECD benchmark, we expect our increased health spend would increase investment in medicines. Our target covers total health funding: from about 7.4% to 9% of GDP over ten years, then held at that level. This would sit within a published, costed ten-year Health Plan with a legislative basis, and progress would be reported annually to Parliament.
Response received after the deadline
Te Pāti Māori will commit to raising medicines investment to at least the OECD average as a percentage of total government spending by 2030.
We will measure this commitment by overall spend, rather than strictly health spend, because we plan to significantly increase investment in Māori-led health solutions, health services, and workforce delivery.
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Policy Question
ACT will continue the evolution of Pharmac into a modern health technology assessment and funding agency. We will ensure it appropriately incorporates patient and caregiver perspectives while having fit-for-purpose evaluation pathways. ACT is also committed to modernising the medicine and medical device regulatory framework to ensure the safe but rapid adoption of new technologies.
The Green Party are committed to more funding for prevention and public health – including public health campaigns, limits on alcohol advertising and unhealthy food advertising to children, working towards a Smokefree Aotearoa, and ensuring primary care is funded to enable timely, accessible, early diagnosis and treatment so New Zealanders have better health outcomes.
Labour is committed to ensuring early and preventative care is accessible and affordable, to ease pressure on the whole health system. Labour will remove the $5 co-payment on prescriptions to make care affordable. This is funded by a simple, targeted capital gains tax on profit from the sale of investment property, which will go straight back into the health system.
We see value in measuring the economic, productivity and whole-of-society impacts of medicines, as well as measuring unmet health needs in order to enable good policy decision-making.
A re-elected National Government will:
Link: More medicines and earlier care – policy | Full policy (PDF)
Did not respond
To afford the medicines wealthier countries provide, we need to grow New Zealand's productivity. We have several policies to deliver this, including our Breakthrough Economy policy, which proposes (among other things) increasing investment in research and development: Breakthrough Economy - The Opportunity Party
Our health policy will also reduce the need for expensive medicines as we increase funding for primary and community care, and address the determinants of poor health: Healthy People policy: https://www.opportunity.org.nz/healthy_people
Response received after the deadline
Te Pāti Māori will invest in marae-based clinics, mobile health units, and free primary and dental care to ensure that more people have are aware of what medicines they need, and we will invest in free medication delivery to ensure that transport is not a barrier to medicines. We are also committed to protecting access to rongoā Māori.
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Promoted by Blood Cancer NZ (previously Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand), Tim Edmonds, PO Box 99182, on behalf of the Forbidden Pharmacy campaign.