Fletcher Tabuteau: Free GP visits for seniors bill important

The bill by Winston Peters proposes three free GP visits a year for those 65 and over.

A belated Happy New Year to everyone.

I've been back at work since the second week of January now; talking to groups and communities around the country, and in Wellington sorting out all the paperwork that keeps pouring in.

As I mentioned in a Rotorua TV interview last week, the other exciting news is that I will be opening up an office here in Rotorua shortly.

One of the key issues for New Zealand First coming into 2015 is the recently drawn private member's bill, the SuperGold Health Check Bill, in the name of the Rt. Hon. Winston Peters

Remember the SuperGold Card was introduced by New Zealand First in 2007 as a gesture of appreciation for all New Zealanders' lifetime contribution to society, awarded on their 65th birthday.

It provides discounts and benefits to our senior citizens.

I have already been out speaking to people in Rotorua about this bill and especially I have been speaking with many of our elderly and our kaumatua.

Why is this bill so important to me?

It provides three free GP visits a year for all those 65 plus. Seniors can be more susceptible to secondary complications or infections and can take longer to recover.

A winter cough can lead to intensive care.

Cost is too often a factor in seniors delaying a visit to their GP. And we all know that they do delay, or in fact do not go at all.

We don't want seniors sitting at home feeling ill and too worried about the cost of going to the GP.

Early diagnosis is a huge financial cost saving to our health service. (An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure).

The three free GP checks proposed under this bill only need to prevent 1 per cent of seniors who use them from being admitted to hospital to recover the cost. Early diagnosis and treatment has far-reaching benefits in terms of social, emotional, physical and mental well-being, especially for the elderly who can lose confidence after extended time in hospital.

Your support is critical. If you believe that this would make a positive difference to your family and the people you love then let the National Party know that it should support this bill through the House.

National has just recently extended the age for children to access free GP visits, another New Zealand First initiative, so it is showing us that it would support a common-sense piece of legislation like this one.

Make a noise, make your support known and make a difference. Email me at Fletcher.Tabuteau@parliament.govt.nz

- Fletcher Tabuteau is a Rotorua-based New Zealand First list MP.