The Health Commissioner's pushing back on claims Health New Zealand's dealing with a manufactured crisis.  

The agency's finances jumped from a half-a-billion dollar surplus to a $1.4 billion deficit in April, now expected to blow out to $1.76 billion.  

Some have argued this comes down to its lack of funding.  

But Lester Levy told Mike Hosking health expenditure's been increasing year-on-year for a long time.  

He says we currently have more revenue going into the agency than we have previously, even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

LISTEN ABOVE