The National Party wants to bring back the $5 prescription fee for those who can afford it and use the money for 13 cancer treatments available in Australia but not in New Zealand.

The treatments would provide “substantial clinical benefit”, according to the NZ Cancer Control Agency, for lung, bowel, kidney, skin, and head and neck cancers.

The treatments would be available to all patients with clinical need, as assessed by their doctors, National leader Christopher Luxon said today while visiting Southern Cross Hospital in Auckland.

The cost would be $280 million over four years, funded by altering the Government’s scrapping of prescription fees that was announced in this year’s Budget at a cost of $620m over four years.

National initially opposed the scrapping of the fees, but later said the fee should only be scrapped for those who can’t afford it.

“National will allocate $280 million in ring-fenced funding to PHARMAC over four years to pay for these therapies,” Luxon said.

“We think this is a better use of taxpayers’ money than paying $5 prescription fees for everyone, including those who can afford to pay it themselves. Under National, superannuitants and those on low incomes will receive free prescriptions (via the Community Services Card or SuperGold Card).

“For everyone else, the total amount any family will pay for prescriptions in a year will be capped at $100.”

National estimates that this change would reduce the cost of the prescription subsidy by about $316 million over four years.

“The remaining savings will remain in the health budget,” National’s policy document says.

Costings for National's plan to fund more cancer treatments.

The cancer treatments are:

• Osimertinib for lung cancer – first-line therapy
• Osimertinib for lung cancer – second-line therapy
• Atezolizumab with bevacizumab for liver cancer
• Cetuximab or panitumumab for bowel cancer – first-line therapy
• Cetuximab for bowel cancer – second-line therapy
• Nivolumab with ipilimumab for kidney cancer – first-line therapy
• Nivolumab for kidney cancer – second-line therapy
• Axitinib for kidney cancer – second-line therapy
• Pembrolizumab for bladder cancer
• Nivolumab for head and neck cancer
• Nivolumab or pembrolizumab for melanoma (adjuvant)
• Dabrafenib with trametinib for melanoma (adjuvant)
• BRAF/MEK inhibitors for melanoma (unresectable)

National’s health spokesman Shane Reti said that National had not forgotten about unfunded treatments for myeloma and leukemia, but there was currently no advice from the NZ Cancer Control Agency about treatments for those cancers with substantial clinical benefit.

He said when the agency provided such advice, National would be “very interested”.

Luxon added that National would increase health funding every year.

“We will restore health targets, including for cancer treatment times, to drive improvement.”

There was no need for people like himself or Chris Hipkins to benefit from free prescriptions, Luxon said, and the “squeezed middle” would benefit under National’s plan to lift the tax thresholds.

Up to 1000 cancer patients a year would benefit from the treatments National wants to fund, he said.

The health sector has been struggling with workforce shortages and staff burnout.

Overall the health system currently has about 8000 vacancies, and based on current population growth an extra 1600 workers will be needed a year out to 2032, meaning if nothing changes the gap could grow to 25,000 healthcare professionals.

National has already announced a plan to increase the free breast cancer screening age from 69 to 74 years old, add a new medical school to the University of Waikato in order to boost doctor numbers, and pay off a chunk of nurses’ student loans if they stayed and worked in New Zealand.

Derek Cheng is a senior journalist for the Herald and a former Deputy Political Editor, whose stints in the Press Gallery in Parliament covered parts of the Helen Clark, John Key, and Jacinda Ardern governments.