Building on myths: an economist's response to the Ministerial Review Group Report on the health system
Vaithianathan, R.
New Zealand Medical Journal 123(1314): 79-83
2010
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-8446 PMID: 20581915 Document Number: 647404
The (2009) Report of the Ministerial Review Group (MRG) recommends a number of useful measures to enhance the New Zealand health system such as reducing the number of primary health organisations (PHOs). However, the report's warnings about the "unsustainability" of the current publicly funded health system are overstated. I argue that the logic for the creation of new agencies and the break-up of the functions of the Ministry of Health has not been clearly articulated. Restructuring is an extremely expensive exercise--and should only be done when there is a compelling logic to the new structure.