Max Harris: ActionStation Campaigner on eye watering costs of current approach to dental healthcare

A new report shows the eye-watering social, economic and fiscal costs of the current approach to dental healthcare in New Zealand.

Current dental policy settings cost $2.5 billion in lost productivity.

Further costs are incurred through sick days, inpatient care, and cardiovascular disease, prompting calls for universal dental care.

ActionStation campaigner Max Harris tells Ryan Bridge lost productivity includes many not attending job interviews because of shame and stigma.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A new report out this morning shows the eye watering social, economic,
and fiscal costs of the current approach to dental healthcare
in this country. It shows our current dental policy settings
cost two point five billion in lost productivity. It's responsible
for further costs when sick days, impatient care, and cardiovascular
disease are all taken into account. Apparently this prompting calls

(00:20):
for universal dental care. Max Harris is the Action Station
campaigner with us this morning. Max, Good morning, Good morning, Ryan,
nice to be on. Nice to have you on the show.
First of all, because I said to my producer Leo,
I said, hang on, who's done this report? So your
Action Station? What is Action Station?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Action Stations an organization that works on campaigns and policy.
But the report is actually been done by Frank Advice
in Wellington using a Treasury mythodology.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Right, So you, I mean you guys have been accused
of being a left wing kind of group, are you?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
No? I don't think so. Staction Session call itself kind
of broadly progressive and talks about using values. But we
know we run a range of campaigns on community issues,
kind of responding to concerns in the community and one
that's come up in the last few years has been dental.
And actually quite a lot of people on the right

(01:18):
and left have talked about what a problem it is
that we have to pay so much for dental in
this country. And that's what's prompted this report.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
And Frank group, the group that's done the report, are
they have they got economists in there? I mean, is
economists looked over this report.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
This was this was authored by someone of the backgrounds
in economics. Frankovises connections to impact lads so that they
do a lot of work on things like social investments. So, yes,
very much. This was authored by an economist using an
approach by treasury.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Okay, all right, so you've got an economist on the job.
Let's talk about what does it that actually say.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
So what the report does is, you know, a lot
of the time when we talk about what it would
take to address dental in this country, we focus on
the costs, and that's fair enough. But the report looks
at the cost of not doing anything about dentals and
it comes up with some pretty interesting numbers. I think. So,
for example, is that the cost of not providing deal

(02:21):
care in the publics in this country is three point
one billion in terms of quality of life and two
point five billion in terms of lots of products. Yes,
things like people not going for job interviews, not because
of the shame of stigmas.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Hey, Max, I'm really sorry. We're gonna have to We're
gonna have to cut the short I think because your
phone line is terrible. Sounds like you're coming to us
from a toilet. That's very annoying. That's Max Harris Action
station campaigner. So the report, as you heard where it's
come from. But the report looks at a couple of things.
It looks at not just the physical cost, the straight

(03:00):
fiscal cost of how much a universal system would cost you,
but also things like sick days and the economic impact
and loss productivity and all that kind of stuff. For
more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to
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