Never before has Pharmac – the government’s medicine procurement agency and decision maker – featured so prominently in an election.
Many parties are pledging more funding, but two are promising to overhaul the agency as we know it. One proposal would link funding for medicines with measures of their impact on overall productivity (such as keeping people working).
But linking funding with productivity could jeopardise efforts to ensure equitable access and health improvements for all. Equity is a focus of wider health reforms and also a key recommendation in a recent review of Pharmac.
