[Sitting date: 04 December 2014. Volume:702;Page:2. Text is subject to correction.]

2. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader - Labour) to the Minister of Health : How many days passed between his 6 November press release stating that Health Benefits Limited was making “good progress” and his announcement that HBL would be wound down?

Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): My release on 6 November stated that Health Benefits Ltd has made good progress in developing savings plans for district health boards, but that those cases have to be implemented and it is important to get this process right. My press release of 20 November announced the next steps in that process. That was 14 days ago.

Hon Annette King : If Health Benefits Ltd was making such good progress, to quote the Minister, why did he decide to can the project before it made the $700 million in savings promised by the Government when it was established?

Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN : As I said in that press release, it had made good progress in describing the business cases, but things have now moved to a new phase and we have got to work out the best way to implement those business cases, hence the decisions made in the press release of 20 November.

Hon Annette King : If Health Benefits Ltd has finished its work, as he claimed on Radio New Zealand National recently, why did it issue its statement of intent for 2014-15 through to 2017-18, which was presented to this House in August, just over 3 months go?

Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN : A lot has happened since that time. It has become apparent to me that as we move into this implementation phase, we have to consider the best possible options for implementation, and that is why those decisions have been made.

Hon Annette King : Will the Minister please itemise to the House today exactly what projects, apart from latex gloves and a banking contract worth, together, about $8 million, have Health Benefits Ltd made to reach the $400 million in savings that he keeps quoting?

Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN : We have got a number of projects there. We have got banking, insurance, telecommunications, vehicle fuel, office equipment, dialysis, orthopaedics, and prosthetics. I could go on and on, but that is a good starter for you.

Hon Annette King : Was the $100 million of health funding taken directly out of district health boards’ budgets, which should have gone to services for New Zealanders but was instead used to prop up a bloated, bureaucratic, secretive Government-created agency, a good use of scarce resources; if so, why?

Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN : It is actually a good use because that $100 million has produced $300 million of savings, and that is going into more doctors and nurses, more operations, and more cancer care, unlike when Mrs King was Minister. She had an extra $2 billion but produced 2,000 fewer elective operations a year. So I think actually she could have learnt from this experience.

Hon Annette King : I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am sorry, but this question was not about me being Minister 8 or 9 years ago—

Mr SPEAKER : Order! When I considered the tone of the question, which talked about “bloated, bureaucratic, secretive” agendas etc., I considered the Minister had every right to respond the way he did.

Hon Annette King : Does he think, in light of his decision to close down Health Benefits Ltd, that there ought to be a review into its operations to see whether there are any lessons that could be learnt to avoid wasting precious health dollars in the future?

Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN : No.

Hon Annette King : I seek leave to table a Health Benefits Ltd document called Stronger Together and table it as a souvenir of Government incompetence.

Mr SPEAKER : Is it a document that has been made freely available to members?

Hon Annette King : A long time ago.

Mr SPEAKER : It has still been made freely available to members. I do not intend to put the leave.

ENDS

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