Winston Peters’ Affordable Healthcare Amendment Bill was defeated last night in parliament, it didn't pass its first reading.

The Bill wanted to make health care insurance compulsory for migrants who enter New Zealand under the parent reunion category – so, as part of their residency, they would have to take out health insurance for 10 years.

There was an exemption for pacific island families. I’m not sure why that was, but New Zealand First put that exemption in place - so this would affect up to 5000 migrants a year.

Labour and the Maori Party supported it. National, Act and the Greens didn’t – hence why it didn't make it past its first reading.

There are similar policies in place in the US, Canada and parts of Europe -- and BERL has done some research on this. They estimate there is a net benefit to our economy of $100 million a year.

Most of the migrants who enter New Zealand under the parental reunion category are over 60, and we know that as people get older they will make greater demands on our health system. But also - and this is what i find interesting - the parents who migrate here under the parent reunion category are typically people who have a chunk of money behind them.

I've spoken with someone who works at the immigration department. They told me that to gain residency under the parent reunification category, most will bring in half a million dollars. There's a bit of cherry picking that goes on. There are exceptions, but the half a million dollars is a condition of their residency.

And then we offer free healthcare on their arrival, free healthcare in our already under-resourced health system. There is an enormous unmet need for elective surgery in this country. Enormous. And so when you dig into who's coming to New Zealand under the parent reunification category, Peters' Bill makes sense, yes, you're welcome to resettle here, but for the first ten years of your life, please take out health insurance to ease the burden on our system.

It's not until you dig a little deeper that you realise this is not a Bill that attacks the most vulnerable.

Sadly, the Bill has fallen at the first hurdle. Labour said yes. The Greens said no. National was never going to support this, or Act. But I thought the greens might. It was certainly worth debating, I would have thought.

Anyway, it won't happen now. It was defeated last night. So I guess we'll all have to form an orderly queue on our hospital waiting lists for some time yet.