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Download AudioMāori Development Minister Willie Jackson says people criticising the Budget allocation for Māori health can’t count.
The Māori Party says Māori are getting just 2 per cent of the health budget, when the total should be closer to 20 per cent, based on population.
Mr Jackson says most Māori don’t get their health services through Māori providers.
“It’s not 2 per cent, We’re talking about targeted Māori programmes and we’re talking about a huge number of Māori in the mainstream who don’t use Māori providers. You think our $11 billion in health might just get to them? Of course, it will. We know it will. So stop just spinning and telling stories,” he says.
Health Ministry figures show of the 733,702 people who identified as Māori when enrolling with primary health organisations, 150,000 were enrolled with Māori health providers and another 40,479 were with Māori providers attached to mainstream PHOs,
That means 542,392 Māori were enrolled with mainstream general practices.
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