The Pharmaceutical Management Agency, or Pharmac, was founded in 1993 and over time has mostly achieved its goals to lower the cost of medicines for Kiwis. Dr Bryce Wilkinson’s major new report on the agency – Pharmac: the right prescription? Read more
In a predictable statement earlier this week, the Green Party co-leader declared her party’s undying love for taxation. A rather Orwellian take on the libertarian war cry of “tax is theft,” Marama Davidson said those who fork out money to the state are world-saving humanitarians since “tax is love.” In the spirit of this wonderful reframing of charity, I propose a few more ideas so Kiwis can help spread the “love.” A good place to start is property rights. Read more
The Ministry of Education has “heard concerns” that some schools are “too focused on academic achievement.” To fix this shocking scandal, the new Education and Training Bill will ensure boards of trustees “re-orient their focus.” Now they must focus more on students’ wellbeing and the Treaty. While learning new things can be fun, most learning of any value takes perseverance and self-discipline. Read more
This week, the Government announced that the real price of entering New Zealand for many returning Kiwis, for loved ones trapped abroad, and for others who might wish safely to join this lifeboat, is infinite. No amount of money will get anyone else into the country. Read more
Following the release of his new report Pharmac: The right prescription?, Bryce Wilkinson talks to Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB about the Pharmac funding model. Bryce says Pharmac deserves credits for lowering the costs of many medicines, but he raises questions about whether the government needs to pay for medicines for everyone. Read more
Wellington, 28 July 2020 – Should the government buy medicines for people who could afford the drugs themselves? This is one question asked in a new report by think tank The New Zealand Initiative. Read more
This report examines the strengths and weaknesses of New Zealand’s arrangements for prescription medicines. Central to them is the Pharmaceutical Management Agency, Pharmac, a Crown entity. Read more
Last week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern decided the conduct of her Workplace Relations and Safety Minister showed a “lack of judgment.” Whether Iain Lees-Galloway’s indiscretions justified him being thrown out of cabinet is open to question. But the weaknesses of his labour market reform agenda are not so debatable. Read more
Free parking isn’t free. Whether it’s an unmetered on-street parking space, or a parking space that comes bundled with an apartment or house, or the off-street parking space in front of a shop that you’ve not had to pay to use, they all have a price. Read more
Last week the EU’s leaders not only signed the organisation’s budget of just over a trillion euros for the next seven years. They also established a €750 billion post-pandemic recovery fund. Read more
An old Australian tourism ad highlighted empty gorgeous beaches, wide-open spaces and asked viewers, “So where the bloody hell are you?” The ad was top-of-mind as our family toured the South Island over school holidays. Up to a million Kiwis live overseas. Read more
The white doors opened gently and in strode the great Irish statesman Edmund Burke. He was five minutes late for the interview, but given that he’d just been reincarnated, I let him off. Read more
The Pharmaceutical Management Agency, Pharmac, attracts plenty of praise and criticism. It has achieved notably low prices for many pharmaceutical medicines but is widely criticised for not subsidising a wider range of medicines and being slow to subsidise new medicines. Read more
Wellington, 23 July 2020 – New Zealand needs to ‘raft up’ with other Covid-free countries while building stronger border capabilities, according to a new report by The New Zealand Initiative. And a voucher programme for helping returning Kiwis cover the cost of managed isolation could help New Zealand’s managed isolation system safely scale up. Read more
Up to a million Kiwis live overseas with a right to return to New Zealand. While the country is now effectively free of Covid-19, with cases only in the country’s quarantine facilities, the pandemic rages abroad and is unlikely to abate anytime soon. Read more
