Labour leader Chris Hipkins is defending his party's dental policy, which fewer people would be eligible for when compared to the Green Party's proposal, and won't fully kick in until 2026.
At Labour's campaign launch in Auckland yesterday, Hipkins promised the party would expand state-funded dental care in phases if re-elected. By 2026, it will cover anyone up to the age of 30 for basic dental care like yearly check-ups, cleanings, and basic fillings and extractions.
Meanwhile, Labour's potential coalition partner, the Green Party pledged in August it would make similar dental care free for everyone in the country, paid for by wealth taxes.
Hipkins told Q+A the policy was going to be "a big undertaking".
"When we looked at the evidence base, that's actually where a lot of tooth decay actually starts to begin," he said of the decision to keep the policy to people under 30 years old.
"So by targeting that group for free dental care up front, we can probably reduce some of the need for more elaborate dental care further down the track."
As for why the policy - which would cost about $390 million over four years and would begin in July 2025 - couldn't be introduced immediately, Hipkins said the country needed to "scale up the capacity to be able to deliver it".
"You can't just flick a switch and turn on extra dental care for people overnight."
Even with "unlimited" funding, there weren't enough dentists to make it happen, Hipkins added.
Labour would expand dental care in two stages, reaching 18- to 23-year-olds from July 2025 and all under 30s from July 2026.
Labour's health spokesperson, Ayesha Verrall, said about 200 more dentists were needed in New Zealand over the next few years. The policy is expected to cover about 800,000 people.
Yesterday, ACT called Labour's dental policy a "populist fantasy" that bribed voters.
In July, Hipkins said no government he leads would have a wealth or capital gains tax.
Q+A is public interest journalism funded by NZ On Air.
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