Rachel Smalley on Pharmac, emails, and if anyone can fix our drug-buying agency

For the past few years, former broadcaster and journalist Rachel Smalley has been advocating for change in how our country funds medicine. 

Currently, Pharmac is the crown entity that decides which medicines to fund for use by New Zealanders. 

But Pharmac has become a dirty word to many people with life-threatening or rare illnesses, who struggle to access the drugs they need to treat their condition. 

Despite years of advocacy on this subject, Smalley has struggled to gain an interview with Pharmac’s top brass to address the criticisms of how they operate. So, she made an Official Information Act request to find out why – and the resulting emails she received have sparked outrage and calls for the CEO to quit.    

Today, on The Front Page, Smalley is here to explain to Damien her battle with Pharmac, and what it says about the state of drug-buying agency.  

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You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Damien Venuto
Producers: Paddy Fox and Shaun D Wilson
Executive Producer: Ethan Sills

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