Health Care And Beneficiaries

The Government is proposing to make benefits dependent on the perceived good behaviour of the beneficiary!

If the Government want to encourage immunisations then they can do so. Encouraging parents to “meet minimum health standards” and see Doctors when they need to (making it free / affordable) is good. But there is no requirement to tie whether parents choose to immunise their children into benefit payments. I was pleasantly surprised to see you can “opt out of immunisation for conscientious reason”, but how good an argument will you have to put together for this?

We agree with the Co-leader of the Green Party Metiria Turei who said the state did not have the right to use financial pressure on parents to force them to immunise their children and “This is an extension of the approach to contraception and exactly the sort of slippery slope we have been warning against.”

It is hard not to worry about how these proposed policies will be administered given past history and the milieu of the Minister and the National Government.

Rebecca Occleston, Speaker: Beneficiary Advisory Service
Beneficiary Advisory Service is a Christchurch based Community Group who help people on benefits and low incomes with their problems with Work and Income. We are specialists in Welfare Law and provide advice, information, support and advocacy to hundreds of people every year. We can be contacted on 03 379 8787 or at bas.cprc@gmail.com

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