Collins Judith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Collins Judith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:619;Page:15104] 
7.  
JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: When she stated to the House on 24 August 2004 in relation to interim-funded primary health organisations that: “After all the Government has not put any additional money in for them” what did she mean? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Health) 
: 
 My comment referred to the fact that for interim-funded primary health organisations additional funding to reduce fees is being phased in over time. Currently interim primary health organisations are funded for children under 18 and people aged 65 and over. As yet no additional funding is provided for the remaining age groups enrolled in interim-funded primary health organisations. This means that people from the ages of 18 to 64 who are enrolled in an interim-funded primary health organisation pay the full fee charged by their general practitioner unless they have acommunity services card a high use health card or are part of Care Plus. 
Judith Collins 
: When the Minister refers to “additional funding” is that funding in addition to the $4 million allocated to establish primary health organisations in preference to family general practitioners is it in addition to the additional funding she trumpeted on 1 October 2003 that interim primary health organisations would receive or is it in addition to her $2 million advertising spree on the virtues of primary health organisations? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member asked three questions. The Minister may respond to two. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: The member is wrong. We have not spent $411 million establishing primary health organisations. We have put money in that goes to the patient—very little of it is used to establish primary health organisations. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I made this point at the very beginning of question time today when you gave the ruling. You just said with regard to the last questioner that she had asked three questions and the Minister can answer two. You see my point do you not? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister may answer. I did not say she must answer. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Oh I see. 
Judith Collins 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I want to clarify something with the Minister. Did she say $410 million? Because I said $4 million. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I thought the member said $411 million. 
Judith Collins 
: No I said $4 million. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Perhaps she would like to repeat the question because I heard $411 million. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No I heard the question from the member and she definitely said $4 million. Perhaps the Minister might like to comment on the fact that the figure was $4 million because I heard that figure. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: The extra additional money has not yet gone in for people who are in interim primary health organisations. That money has gone in for only the over-65s and that figure was $47 million. There has been no additional money for interim primary health organisations in the age groups that are not yet funded. 
Steve Chadwick 
: Has the Minister received any comments that allege a 20 percent fee increase in the primary health organisation in Feilding? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Yes. Judith Collins made allegations in the House 2 days ago. She has failed to produce the evidence that there has been a 20 percent increase in the primary health organisation in Feilding because there is no primary health organisation in Feilding. She can be excused for being confused. After all very recently she called primary health organisations “public health organisations”. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Given the Government’s stated intention that primary health organisations would comprise “multidisciplinary teams of health professionals working together to deliver a range of health services” will the Government encourage primary health organisations to include registered complementary health practitioners in their multidisciplinary teams; if not why not? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: There is absolutely nothing to stop registered complementary health practitioners from being part of primary health organisations. I have no doubt that over time we will see the integration of many more health providers in primary health organisations. 
Heather Roy 
: If as the Minister says the Government has not put additional money into interim public health organisations and given that doctors around the country are reporting that half the primary health organisation administration money is being used to run their new governance boards can she deny that she has forced doctors to increase fees in order to produce the same service thus imposing more expensive doctors’ visits on the millions of Kiwis enrolled in interim primary health organisations? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: No. In fact over 2 million New Zealanders have cheaper health care. 
Judith Collins 
: Does the Minister accept that ordinary New Zealanders might find her use of the term “no additional funding” confusing when she previously stated in a press release on 1 October 2003 that additional funding was available to interim primary health organisations for certain services that most New Zealanders would consider standard medical practice like the promotion of health? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Every primary health organisation whether access or interim receives a very small amount of money for health promotion and disease prevention—a very small amount. There has been no additional money put into interim primary health organisations for the age groups between 18 and 64. However help is on the way because this Government between now and 2007 will be putting in additional funding to ensure that every New Zealander will have affordable primary health care. Let me compare that with the fact that subsidised primary health care was removed by the National Party in 1991.