July 01, 2015
Party pressure extends free doctor visits
Children under 13 will be able to get free doctor’s visits and prescriptions from today, and the Maori Party is claiming credit.
Co-leader Marama Fox says the party’s membership of the ministerial committee on poverty had a lot to do with getting the policy approved in the 2014 budget.
It is estimated more than 400,000 children will benefit including 189,000 tamariki Maori.
Ms Fox says being able to take tamariki to the doctor for free and have the cost of medicines covered will take some of the stress off whanau.
She says the Maori Party would like to see the policy extended to all tamariki and taiohi under the age of 18.
Free doctors visits for children under six were originally introduced in the 1990s as a post-election deal with New Zealand First.
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