Media release on behalf of ACC Futures Coalition
10 December 2009
ACC mysteriously silent on its success stories
ACC appears to be operating a news blackout on positive stories in order to allow ACC Minister Nick Smith to continue peddling his inaccurate and misleading picture of the corporation’s position, said Hazel Armstrong on behalf of the ACC Futures Coalition today.
“New claims reported in the work account have declined from 215,553 in 2004/5 to 190,495 in 2008/9,” said Armstrong. “In previous years this information would have been shouted from the rooftops as evidence of effective health and safety promotion. Now however it does not fit with the Minister’s desire to paint ACC claims and costs as out of control.”
“Why is ACC not celebrating its own good performance? Yesterday the Minister renewed his attack on hearing damage claims with an estimate that his proposed cuts would save $75million next year when hearing loss claims are costing ACC no more than $65million at present.”
“At the same time there is no acknowledgement that since 2007 ACC has achieved savings of around 10% in the cost of hearing related claims through the ACCORD agreement with NZ Audiological Society and the Hearing Instrument Manufacturers and Distributors Association (HIMADA). These savings amount to $6.7 million in the 2008/2009 year alone. The total cost for expenditure of products and services for the approximately 50,000 claimants with noise induced hearing loss for the 2008/2009 year was almost $59million, but without the ACCORD the projected cost would have been $66million.”
“The Minister also defended his intention to cut compensation to claimants with less than 6% accident related hearing loss by repeating the false assertion that such hearing loss is ‘low-level’ and by citing a similar 6% threshold in New South Wales and Canberra. This is misleading because the Australian example relates to lump-sum compensation payments, not funding for hearing aids which he is intending to cut for injured New Zealanders.”
“Misinformation is being used to drive unnecessary and unfair cuts to entitlements, and ACC is mysteriously silent on any of its success stories. We need to seriously question why this is,” concluded Armstrong.
ENDS
_______________________________________________________________
The ACC Futures Coalition consists of academics, consumers, health treatment providers and unions who have come together around the following aim:
To build cross-party support for retaining the status of ACC as a publicly-owned single provider committed to the ‘Woodhouse Principles’, with a view to maintaining and improving the provision of injury prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and ‘no fault’ compensation social insurance system for all New Zealanders.