Kiwis are continuing to voice their disappointment and sadness over National's failure to fund the 13 new cancer drugs it promised during the election campaign.
Last Thursday the coalition Government revealed its first Budget which broadly delivered on its promises including tax cuts for most Kiwis.
But it didn't keep its promise to fund new cancer drugs and it's drawing ire from Kiwis across the political spectrum.
National campaigned on funding treatments offered in Australia that help battle liver, lung, bowel, kidney, and head and neck cancers, as well as melanoma.
It was expected to cost $280 million over four years and was supposed to be funded by reinstating the $5 prescription payment.
However, in this year's Budget, prescription fees were reinstated but there was no funding allocated to the 13 drugs. Instead, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti said the Government anticipates future Budgets will help "widen medicine access, including to cancer treatments".
The Government blamed a $1.77 billion funding "cliff" in drug-buying agency Pharmac's budget left by the previous Labour Government for not funding the new cancer drugs in this year's Budget. It said Pharmac had been "short-funded", so the Government had to fork out a billion dollars or Kiwis would have lost funding for treatments like asthma inhalers and diabetes medication.
But on Tuesday Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said National is still committed to funding the drugs and instead said it was the procurement process that was holding up the funding.
"It is taking a little bit more time than we wanted," Luxon said.
"I can reassure you work is already underway looking at a series of options of how we deliver those cancer treatments we want to be able to bring to New Zealanders."
But that explanation didn't hold water with cancer specialist Dr George Laking who told AM co-host Lloyd Burr he believes it's a funding issue.
Dr Laking said eight of the 13 drugs included immunotherapy elements which are proving to be a game changer in the fight against cancer.
He said he's incredibly disappointed by National's failed promise.
"All sorts of emotions there. I try to think what New Zealand people would think, to be honest.
"If you're a person, and I think pretty much everyone in the country is, who has been touched by cancer in some way in their whanau... so yeah annoyance is one of the feelings, but I think even bigger than that is that just terrifying sinking feeling of there's something that could help the person I care about but it's not available."
Dr Laking also criticised National saying it's "not as if they didn't have time to get this ready".
"They had the whole election campaign to figure it out and cost it out and it's not as if they haven't been able to put through some parts of their policy that obviously seem to be more important to them during that first 100-day period. So why has it become so difficult all of a sudden to honour this promise?"
He added it seems funding is the real problem - not procurement.
"I don't really think that's the reason," he said when asked about Luxon's comments on AM.
"The reason is financing. The Medsafe process is there and it can be gone through but doctors can still prescribe medicines, and I think the thing everyone can see is the money isn't actually on the table for this because if the money was on the table, then it would be obvious if the holdup was some aspect of Medsafe and then that could be worked through.
"I'm not really perceiving that the money is even on the table yet so it doesn't really stack up to me and it certainly doesn't account for all of these medicines."
Dr Laking isn't the only one who is disappointed. Newshub has been contacted by multiple people who are devastated by the undelivered promise.
One viewer said he currently has to travel from New Plymouth to Auckland every three weeks for treatment with drugs that were on the list that was supposed to be funded. But they weren't so now he has to pay $5000 for each treatment.
AM was also flooded by comments from people who didn't have cancer but were unhappy.
One person said they are donating their tax cut to cancer services in Christchurch.
Another said the lack of funding means people will die.
"No I'm not happy that National will be giving people tax cuts while Kiwis will be dying from a lack of cancer drugs," another said.
