To the Ministry of Health,

I am making a request under the Official Information Act 1982.

I am seeking information relating to public funding, policy guidance, or contractual arrangements that enable or support general practices to reduce, waive, or eliminate patient fees for primary healthcare services based on ethnicity, specifically Māori and Pacific peoples.

This request is not limited to any particular clinic pricing model or terminology (such as “membership” schemes), but relates to any mechanism by which patient fees are reduced or waived.

Please provide the following information:

Any Ministry of Health or Health NZ (Te Whatu Ora) policies, directives, funding agreements, or guidance that allow or encourage general practices to reduce or waive patient fees for specific ethnic groups.

Details of any funding streams, capitation adjustments, equity payments, access funding, or targeted subsidies intended to offset the cost to practices of providing zero-fee or reduced-fee care to specific ethnic groups, including:

The name of each funding mechanism

The eligibility criteria

Whether the funding is intended to fully or partially offset patient fees

Any analysis, modelling, or evaluation undertaken by the Ministry assessing:

The financial impact of ethnicity-based fee reductions on general practices

Whether such arrangements may result in higher fees for non-eligible patients

Any advice received by the Ministry regarding legal, ethical, or human-rights considerations of ethnicity-based patient fee structures in primary healthcare.

Any guidance provided to general practices on how ethnicity-based fee reductions should be communicated to patients, including transparency expectations.

I am happy to receive this information electronically.

Yours sincerely,
David