Many more Kiwis will receive the essential cancer treatments they have been denied if Chris Luxon's National Party becomes Government. The 13 cancer treatments have been identified by the Cancer Control Agency as life-saving or life-prolonging and are not currently funded in New Zealand.

The treatments, for lung, bowel, kidney, melanoma, and head and neck cancers, provide significant clinical benefits and are currently funded in Australia but not in New Zealand.
New Zealanders will not have to leave the country, mortgage their home, or start a funding page to be able to afford potentially lifesaving and life-extending treatments that are proven to work and are readily available across the Tasman.

New Zealanders have a 15 per cent greater mortality from cancer than Australians, a shocking statistic that must be addressed. Cancer touches almost every family in New Zealand, personally or through a friend, colleague, or family member. Each year, more than 25,000 Kiwis are diagnosed with cancer and more than 10,000 tragically lose their lives.

A National government will pay for this by ring-fencing $280 million in funding to Pharmac over four years and will do this by targeting the free prescription policy the government gave all New Zealanders, regardless of whether they could afford to pay it themselves.

Dr Shane Reti, National's health spokesperson, believes some people can afford to pay a $5 prescription charge and would be happy if that funding went into cancer therapies instead. Superannuitants and those on low incomes will continue to receive free prescriptions. For everyone else, the total amount any family will pay for prescriptions in a year will be capped at $100.

The cancer treatments will be available to all patients with clinical need, as assessed by their doctors. Lifting New Zealand’s game on cancer will be a priority for the next National government. This is in addition to the already announced plans to increase the free breast cancer screening age from 69 to 74 years old, which will save around 65 lives each year.

A future National Government will focus relentlessly on delivering better healthcare for all New Zealanders, and importantly increase health funding every year, and shift resources from the bureaucracy to the frontline.