Three free primary-care visits a year
Provide three free doctor or nurse appointments each year at a person’s enrolled general practice.
Our assessment & details
Our assessment
AnalysisStrengths
- A defined three-visit entitlement could reduce consultation costs, with phone triage outside the allowance and provision for non-digital users.Evidence 1Evidence 2
Trade-offs & risks
- The entitlement stops at three covered visits; additional appointments, after-hours care and ACC visits may still carry charges.Evidence 1Evidence 2
Open questions
- Reconcile the standalone and fiscal-plan cost lines, and show whether proposed capacity gains can meet demand for free appointments.Evidence 1Evidence 2Evidence 3
Party proposal
Labour proposes a Medicard providing three free doctor or nurse appointments each year at a person’s enrolled general practice. Clinical phone triage would not use up the allowance; unused visits would not carry into the following year.
- Who it covers
- People eligible for healthcare and enrolled at a practice. Already-free services, after-hours care and ACC visits are outside the three-visit allowance.
- Timing
- The page describes the full entitlement from July 2028, with programme spending starting in 2027/28.
- Cost & funding stated by the party
- Labour publishes $393.3 million for 2027/28, $553 million annually in 2028/29 and 2029/30, and $548 million in later years. It proposes funding the plan through its targeted property capital gains tax.
The standalone paper’s free-doctor line is $323m/$490m/$490m/$490m; the fiscal plan’s line is $297.8m/$464.8m/$483.6m/$503.1m. The different scope or assumptions need explanation; this does not establish an error or unfunded programme.
Sources reviewed
Labour: Medicard and general-practice plan Policy page · Publication date not stated
Labour: standalone Medicard paper Policy paper · Publication date not stated
Labour: Fiscal Plan 2026 — party-authored PDF hosted by Interest.co.nz Policy paper · Publication date not stated