From today, a visit to a GP is free for all children under 13. New Zealand already has free doctors’ visits for children under 6. Now parents of primary-school aged children can take their child to the doctor without worrying about the cost.
Visits to an after-hours clinic are also free for these children. Prescriptions for medicine are also free.
General practitioners (GPs) run a private business so they charge a fee when you go to the doctor. You need to be registered with a GP because GPs receive a subsidy from the government for every registered patient who visits the doctor. Children also need to be registered with the GP for a free visit. Different GPs charge different fees. Some charge less for students.
The government announced this new policy at the time of the Budget last year. The Minister of Health said it would save money on hospital beds if children see a doctor when they are first sick. If parents wait too long to take a child to the doctor, sometimes the child will need to go to hospital instead. Hospitals are expensive for the government and nobody wants to go to hospital.
Listen to May 16th 2014 to hear more about the 2014 Budget.
Vocabulary
• GP – General Practitioner, family doctor
• doctor’s visit – here visit means to go to the doctor; it is not a social visit
• after-hours – evenings and weekends
• clinic – usually has more than one doctor
• prescriptions – the doctor prescribes some medication and the pharmacist supplies it
• registered – choose a doctor and give your name and details to the receptionist
• subsidy – the government pays part of the fee
Idioms / collocations
• run a business – operate a business
• charge a fee
• first sick – While we can say ‘when they are first sick’, we cannot say ‘second sick’. ‘First sick’ means ‘the first sign of sickness’.
Grammar
• without worrying – without + ‘ing’ verb eg. without being told; without being frightened;
• will need to; will have to – note that ‘must’ does not have a future tense