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No idea. That’s why I asked
My non political take:

As a percentage of GDP our health spend is in line with other countries. We can’t afford to spend more. We’re in deficit already.

The issue is our GDP per person is shocking. Finland with a similar population has double the GDP so if they spend the same GDP per person on health, their health budget is double ours for the same population despite the same spend on a GDP basis. Simple maths really.

So our retirement economy, anti growth and pro lifestyle over the economy, is coming back to bite us. We’ve got what we wanted and now some are waking up to the reality…

Add to this our massive population growth (not adding to GDP per person) and we slowly slip backwards. Because we live it everyday we don’t notice the slow decline but when you go overseas to visit countries that were once way behind us and they are now ahead of us it becomes obvious how much we’ve stood still and are falling behind.

As a country we need to priorities the important things like new businesses and growing existing businesses, etc rather than non event issues like how well free school lunches are going… our priorities are all wrong sometimes.
 
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My non political take:

As a percentage of GDP our health spend is in line with other countries. We can’t afford to spend more. We’re in deficit already.

The issue is our GDP per person is shocking. Finland with a similar population has double the GDP so if they spend the same GDP per person on health, their health budget is double ours for the same population despite the same spend on a GDP basis. Simple maths really.

So our retirement economy, anti growth and pro lifestyle over the economy, is coming back to bite us. We’ve got what we wanted and now some are waking up to the reality…

Add to this our massive population growth (not adding to GDP per person) and we slowly slip backwards. Because we live it everyday we don’t notice the slow decline but when you go overseas to visit countries that were once way behind us and they are now ahead of us it becomes obvious how much we’ve stood still and are falling behind.

As a country we need to priorities the important things like new businesses and growing existing businesses, etc rather than non event issues like how well free school lunches are going… our priorities are all wrong sometimes.
Finland is interesting how it taxes compared to NZ. Their thresholds and tax rates for lower incomes are less than ours but our version of WFF is higher than theirs. Their highest personal tax threshold is lower than ours and the tax rate higher.

Their corporate tax rate is lower but VAT is 25% compared to our 15%. And, of course, they have a comprehensive CGT while ours is pretty much non existent.

They also have inheritance and gift taxes.

Their total tax revenue in 2023 was just over $200 billion NZD, while NZ’s total tax revenue was $115 billion. It’s not just they have a higher GDP, they’re also far more willing to pay tax, or be taxed, depending on your outlook.
 
Decades of underfunding

It’s always in the “high priority but low urgency” category, so no government actually funds it like it should be

We are the frog in the slowly boiling water pot

It’s not some Machiavellian scheme by the private sector. It’s just fiduciary incompetence
Another problem we have is that we swing to far one way or another with every change of government.

Where I think our current government is falling down is its drive for efficiency at all cost attitude. While it’s fine to question if the money provided to the health system is being used to properly to provide front line health services, there’s a major problem with gutting the back office staff…. someone still has to do this work and if there’s no support staff or a reduced support staff to do it, then frontline staff have to which then effects their ability to preform their frontline duties. While it’s fine might be “cheaper” it won’t lead to better outcomes for patients.

From what I’ve heard from a few people working it hospitals, is that Shane Reti got dumped as Minister of Health because he was starting to pushback against more cuts in the name of “efficiency”.
 
Finland is interesting how it taxes compared to NZ. Their thresholds and tax rates for lower incomes are less than ours but our version of WFF is higher than theirs. Their highest personal tax threshold is lower than ours and the tax rate higher.

Their corporate tax rate is lower but VAT is 25% compared to our 15%. And, of course, they have a comprehensive CGT while ours is pretty much non existent.

They also have inheritance and gift taxes.

Their total tax revenue in 2023 was just over $200 billion NZD, while NZ’s total tax revenue was $115 billion. It’s not just they have a higher GDP, they’re also far more willing to pay tax, or be taxed, depending on your outlook.
Finland has a GDP of $296b with $200b tax leaves $96b private surplus.

NZ GDP of $204b with $115b tax leaves $89b private surplus.

So Finland has significantly higher tax and significantly better govt services plus the individual is still better off than in NZ.

Despite all the extra tax, you’re still better off as an individual in Finland. Grow the economic pie and we all benefit.
 
Another problem we have is that we swing to far one way or another with every change of government.

Where I think our current government is falling down is its drive for efficiency at all cost attitude. While it’s fine to question if the money provided to the health system is being used to properly to provide front line health services, there’s a major problem with gutting the back office staff…. someone still has to do this work and if there’s no support staff or a reduced support staff to do it, then frontline staff have to which then effects their ability to preform their frontline duties. While it’s fine might be “cheaper” it won’t lead to better outcomes for patients.

From what I’ve heard from a few people working it hospitals, is that Shane Reti got dumped as Minister of Health because he was starting to pushback against more cuts in the name of “efficiency”.
Health New Zealand’s latest workforce data for the quarter to March 2024:

“There are now more nurses employed by hospitals than ever before, with 29,404 full time equivalent (FTE) nurses employed by Health NZ across the country. That’s an additional 1,198 compared to last quarter, and an overall increase of 2,900 over the last year.


No wonder Reti had to go, this is no way to create a crisis and force privatisation…

 
Health New Zealand’s latest workforce data for the quarter to March 2024:

“There are now more nurses employed by hospitals than ever before, with 29,404 full time equivalent (FTE) nurses employed by Health NZ across the country. That’s an additional 1,198 compared to last quarter, and an overall increase of 2,900 over the last year.

Which is all well and good.... but when more of their time is being spent on admin roles for those let go in the name of efficiency, it won't lead to better outcomes for the patients... which, IMHO, should be the ideal result of any reforms in the health system. Otherwise, you're just moving the deck chairs on the Titanic!!
 
No wonder Reti had to go, this is no way to create a crisis and force privatisation…
What some people won't want to know is that during the time of Helen Clark's government, my father had a triple bypass.... performed in a private hospital but paid for by the government. It sounds like it was done under a similar scheme as the one the current government is wanting to use to help clear the public waiting lists.

Personally, I don't have a problem at all with elective surgeries being shared between the public and private hospitals.... I don't see it as a form of privatisation of the health system but a way to provide better outcomes for patients.
 
Which is all well and good.... but when more of their time is being spent on admin roles for those let go in the name of efficiency, it won't lead to better outcomes for the patients... which, IMHO, should be the ideal result of any reforms in the health system. Otherwise, you're just moving the deck chairs on the Titanic!!
Or is it to early to make that call?
 
In my recent visit to hospital I had a number of blood tests Two days later I was phoned by my doctor to check on me.
Then she said that I should get a blood test.
I said I had the tests done while in hospital.
She replied that the hospital doesn't pass these on to her.
Seems like a bit strange in this technology age 🤔
 
In my recent visit to hospital I had a number of blood tests Two days later I was phoned by my doctor to check on me.
Then she said that I should get a blood test.
I said I had the tests done while in hospital.
She replied that the hospital doesn't pass these on to her.
Seems like a bit strange in this technology age 🤔
Yeah, you have to specifically ask them to send results to the doc. The different depts in the hospitals don't communicate well with each other either. Witnessed a stand up between my cardiologist and urologist over blood thinners. Thought there might be a bit of Biffo. 😂 As for using private hospitals for public work, no problem, wouldn't surprise me if the cost was cheaper as they are probably more efficient. Had a few ops on the state done here in Southern Cross, surgeons are the same across the board anyway.
 
In my recent visit to hospital I had a number of blood tests Two days later I was phoned by my doctor to check on me.
Then she said that I should get a blood test.
I said I had the tests done while in hospital.
She replied that the hospital doesn't pass these on to her.
Seems like a bit strange in this technology age 🤔
From the recent fall, a couple of days after each dressing change, I'd get an email from Managemyhealth saying that more results had been loaded.... it actually got a bit annoying...

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What the country really needs.......... NOT!!!!!

Act Party looking to stand candidates in local elections for first time​


The Act Party will today announce it is looking to stand candidates in the upcoming local council elections, saying it’s “time for a clean-out”.

Leader David Seymour is expected to hold a press conference in Wellington later on Tuesday to call for expressions of interest from New Zealanders to stand for their local council under the Act Party banner. Local elections will be held in October.

This will be the first time Act has looked to put forward candidates in local elections.

Seymour described it as an “exploratory campaign”. He said national political parties putting forward local candidates hasn’t always been popular, but he reckoned “better representation” is needed on councils.

“If good people show up wanting to stand and we think we can win some, we will go for it,” he said.

“I think it’s better to be trying new things even if they don’t work out the first time than never try at all.”

Act won’t be considering challenging mayoral seats as Seymour said the party needed to be “realistic”. He believed people needed to “show what you can deliver before you try and take on big prizes”.

“Start with people that can get around the council, learn the skills, and then work their way up,” he said.

Candidates would be expected to raise money to fund their own campaigns.

“You’re not going to see helicopter candidates funded from outside your town ... If you can’t fundraise money for your campaign, maybe people are trying to tell you something.”

He will highlight Act’s key focuses in government, such as addressing the cost of living, wasteful spending, and co-governance, and suggest Act councillors would prioritise core issues like these, such as lowering rates and scrapping “nice-to-haves”.

“We want to end wasteful spending, end massive rate rises, end the war on cars, and start treating people respectfully regardless of race,” Seymour said.

He’s expected to say councils have missed the memo that Kiwis voted for “real change” in 2023 and believes it is “time for a clean-out” in local politics.

Act has grown its support significantly over the past decade in central government elections.

In 2017, it received just 0.5% of the vote. That jumped to 7.6% in 2020 and then 8.64% in the 2023 election, enough to help National and NZ First form a government.

Seymour has held the Epsom seat since 2014. In 2023, the party’s deputy, Brooke van Velden, scored the party’s second electorate seat with Tāmaki.

Although Act hasn’t had councillors elected under its banner previously, that hasn’t stopped the party making its thoughts heard on local politics.

Just last week, Seymour issued a statement saying local councils should ditch complex procurement policies in favour of new rules from central government.


One of his MPs, Mark Cameron, lodged a Member’s Bill last year that would restore provisions to the Resource Management Act prohibiting councils from considering climate change as a factor in their plans.

A policy of Act’s at the 2023 election was to share GST with councils to fund local infrastructure. The party’s coalition agreement with National commits to considering this.

 
Yeah, you have to specifically ask them to send results to the doc. The different depts in the hospitals don't communicate well with each other either. Witnessed a stand up between my cardiologist and urologist over blood thinners. Thought there might be a bit of Biffo. 😂 As for using private hospitals for public work, no problem, wouldn't surprise me if the cost was cheaper as they are probably more efficient. Had a few ops on the state done here in Southern Cross, surgeons are the same across the board anyway.
My GP can see all test that have been done either requested by him or my hospital ones and their notes. It does take a little while to get loaded in the system though.
 
    Nobody is reading this thread right now.
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