Pitched as making sure no expectant parent has to "skip a scan because they can't afford it", Labour's election pledge would fund every medically necessary pregnancy ultrasound through its proposed Medicard.

The Policy: Labour Free Maternity Scans — June 2026 →

What it does:

• Makes every maternity scan a doctor or midwife deems medically necessary free of charge, with the cost loaded automatically onto a patient's Medicard after a practitioner referral — Labour says women with complicated pregnancies who need extra scans won't miss out.
• Removes fees that currently reach up to $90 per scan depending on region; coverage is patchy today, free in places like Tairāwhiti, Nelson and the West Coast but around $30 for Community Services Card holders and $90 for others in main centres.
• Is costed at $28.6 million a year from July 2028, which Labour says it would fund from the revenue of its proposed capital gains tax.
• Adds under $3 million a year for 24 additional paid trainee sonographer positions at Health New Zealand, drawn from Health NZ's baseline funding, to build the workforce needed to meet demand.
• Sits alongside the rest of the Medicard package — three free GP visits a year and free cervical screening for those aged 25 to 69.

The result: This is an unlegislated Opposition pledge: Labour is not in government, the policy would only begin in July 2028 if it wins the 2026 election, and the start date and funding both hinge on its capital gains tax. Labour leader Chris Hipkins says "women and their families shouldn't have to worry about money" over a pregnancy, and health spokesperson Dr Ayesha Verrall argues early scans "save lives". The sonographers' union APEX backs it: national secretary Dr Deborah Powell called the training investment "an essential move", while warning that sonographers have one of the highest turnover rates in allied health — so workforce capacity, not just funding, will decide whether the promise is deliverable. Health Minister Simeon Brown counters that National targets support to those most in need and that Health NZ already provides free hospital ultrasounds for some women, pointing also to the Budget's funded three-day postnatal stay. The deeper contest is over the money: Finance Minister Nicola Willis has alleged an $18.2 billion gap between Labour's spending promises and its capital gains tax revenue, which Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds dismissed as "about as desperate as it gets", pledging a fully costed plan before the election.

Neutrality note: figures and party positions here are attributed to their sources; the capital gains tax funding claim is contested and is presented as each side states it.

The impacts to watch:

• Whether the capital gains tax actually raises enough to cover this alongside Labour's other Medicard promises, given the disputed costings.
• Whether 24 trainee sonographer places are enough to clear waitlists, given the workforce shortages APEX flags — free scans are worthless if there is no one to perform them in time.
• Equity effects: the policy most helps families in regions and income brackets that currently pay, but the benefit only lands if Labour wins and delivers from 2028.
• Pressure on National to respond on maternity affordability during the campaign, having framed its own approach as targeted rather than universal.