Findings are reported from a preliminary analysis of the cost of health inequities between Māori and non-Māori children in New Zealand. The estimate of the health sector costs of child health inequities between Māori and non-Māori suggests a cost saving to the health sector of $24,737,408 per annum. However, significant societal costs were identified: over $NZ62 million per year in a conservative “base case” scenario estimate, with alternative costing methods identifying even larger costs of nearly $NZ200 million per annum. The total cost estimate was found to be highly sensitive to the costing method used, the discount rate and Value of Statistical Life applied: the cost of potentially avoidable deaths of Māori children was a large proportion of the total costs.
