The government is giving Pharmac an extra $39 million allowing funding for the melanoma drug Opdivo. We don’t know enough to say whether the specific drugs being selected by Pharmac are a better deal for patients compared to others. The strength of an independent drug buying agency is that we put experts in place to make those decisions. Of course, the strength of private medical insurance is that if you have it, and you disagree, you can still fund other treatments agreed between you and your medical advisers. Click here to watch a video from One News.