Labour's election promise of a GP price drop from July 1, 2018 , may instead be "phased" in, with no guarantee of when the move is set to be implemented.
The possible slow-down of the promise is a casualty of "the deficit we have in infrastructure, and the blowouts we've seen from DHBs", says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. She also put it down to compromises of a coalition government.
"We are trying to do it all, it is going to take us a little more time."
"What we campaigned on was what Labour wanted to do as an individual party, what we find ourselves in the position of is a raft of things collectively as three parties," Ms Ardern said today.
"It's not just about Labour's manifesto that we now hold ourselves account to."
She also put the delay on the lowering of doctor visits down to "the state of the books as we found them".
"Actually when it comes to the constraints we're facing, I would slate that back to the deficit we have in infrastructure, and the blowouts we've seen from DHBs."
Dr David Clark couldn’t say when Labour’s election promise of bringing down GP visits by $10 would be put in place. (Source: Other)
It comes after the Health Minister's interview on TVNZ's Q+A yesterday, where host Corin Dann asked if the upcoming May Budget would bring GP visits down by $10.
"We're going to have to phase some of these initiatives. There's no doubt about that," Dr David Clark said.
"We are phasing our priorities, but we are absolutely committed to the principle of making sure New Zealanders can afford to visit their GP."
Ms Ardern said while she remains "absolutely committed" to areas of focus, such as primary health care, some policies will need to be phased in.
She said they have emphasised "the need" to phase policies, "because we can't do everything in health care in one go".
"When we say phasing, we mean phasing."
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