From July 1, the start of the new fiscal year, Health NZ will stop paying charges to the Crown for the capital that it uses. The ministry calls it a technical change, with no effect on patient care, infrastructure, or the money available for services. On the Crown’s books, nothing apparently happens at all, on net.

The charge had been running at $576 million per year, in the 2024/25 estimates. Drop it and nothing much changes, because Health NZ was funded by the Crown to pay it to the Crown in the first place.

To read the article on the Newsroom website, click here.