Street Maryan: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Street Maryan: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 14 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:7874. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
9. 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: What reports if any has he received on the impact of increasing prescription charges? 
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) 
: 
 Including articles letters ministry reports and such like as well as other documents I have received a number of reports—too many to detail here. The $2 increase per item or a maximum of $40 a year per family is the first increase in 20 years which has helped fund cost pressures and new investments in the health service. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: Is he aware of a University of Otago report last year that said that 276000 adults were estimated to have found cost a barrier to picking up prescription items even at $3 an item; and how did he factor this information into his decision to increase charges to $5 an item? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: Yes I am aware of that survey. I am also aware that it did not have any comparative information from earlier years. There have always been some people who do not pick up their pharmaceuticals and that is disappointing because support is available. In fact almost one-third of all prescriptions filled in New Zealand are done so without any charge to the patient. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: Is he aware that the chaos surrounding the prescription charge increase and the pharmacy contract with district health boards has meant that pharmacists are now charging anything from $5 to $10 a week for blister packs on top of the new charges so that a pensioner who has written to me recently in Christchurch and who requires 10 medicines daily now has to pay an extra $6 a week to get his medicines in this usable and reliable form and that means forking out in excess of $300 per year extra for his medicines as a result of these changes? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: In this question the changes in respect of the prescription charge are unrelated to the other parts of the member’s question. The fact is that the increase in the prescription charge was implemented quite smoothly. What is important for people to realise with the prescription charges is that there is a maximum extra cost to any family of $40 a year. Once a family gets a prescription subsidy card it needs to pay for nothing extra over 20 items. This information is available in pharmacies general practices and on the Ministry of Health website. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: Does he understand that the fee paid to pharmacists for dispensing medicines is linked to patients’ co-payments—that is the $5 charge—and does he therefore acknowledge that it is costing people more than simply the $2 increase per item to pick up their scripts? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: I do not think the member’s description has validity in light of the new transitional arrangements that we have in the pharmacy sector. But what is important to remember is that if members have constituents who feel that they are under pressure with the increased prescription charges those patients should be advised to talk to their general practitioner or their pharmacist or to make sure they can be in touch with Work and Income which can provide support. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: How does he reconcile the recent prescription charge increase from $3 to $5 an item with his statement of 11 September 2008 his guarantee of 30 July 2009 or his statement of 11 June 2011 that under National there would be no change to prescription charges that the Government was not considering such an increase and that that position would last for the term of the National Government; or is this another of National’s broken promises? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: I certainly think that that undertaking did stand for that term of that National Government. The fact is that the extra charges and the revenue that is being collected from these contributions are being reinvested in the health service in more services for cancer patients more preventive health care and expanding free after-hours doctors’ visits for kids under the age of 5. If any people are having difficulty meeting their prescription charge they should talk to their general practitioner their pharmacist or Work and Income New Zealand.