The “Ugly Sister of Welfare”: The Idea of Health Care ‘Rationing’ in New Zealand 1968-c.1980

Abstract

This thesis explores the influence of healthcare ‘rationing’ in New Zealand from 1968 to c.1980. Rationing is a term and concept drawn from health economics and the history of the idea will be traced as well as its influence. The influence of rationing will primarily be explored through case studies: the supply of specialist staff to New Zealand’s public hospitals, the building of hospitals (and specialist units in particular) and the supply of medical technology. This era has been selected for historical examination because of the limited attention paid to it in studies of the health service, and more generally, welfare histories of New Zealand. Often in these studies the 1970s is overshadowed by the period health of reform in the 1980s and 1990s.