Men's health highlights funding hypocrisy

If health funding was allocated on the basis of need, not race and location, New Zealand men would be a lot better off, says Dr Lynda Scott, National's Health Spokesperson.

PHOs with high numbers of Maori receive 20-40% extra funding.

"The Government justifies its race-based PHO funding on the back of the fact that Maori die, on average, 10-years earlier than non-Maori. Yet men, who die an average of 5 years younger than women, don't receive an extra bean," says Dr Scott.

"The PHO access formula actually sees men receive less funding than women across all age groups from age five despite their lower life-expectancy.

"If the Government was interested in improving health across the board, men, who under-utilise health services and can expect to die earlier than women, would clearly be targeted.

"This makes an absolute mockery of Labour's funding formula and their justification for it. They are simply weighting the funding by race," says Dr Scott.

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