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ACC
INTRODUCTION
New Zealand First believes that there needs to be a stronger 'insurance' component in accident compensation. The original intention of the 1972 Accident Compensation Act was that ACC should carry forward the common law indemnity principle and reimburse injured people in full for their losses (less 20% of their earnings) and costs. The Woodhouse Commission based its recommendations on five key principles:
- community responsibility;
- comprehensive entitlement;
- complete rehabilitation;
- real compensation; and,
- administrative efficiency.
In return for embracing the Woodhouse scheme the right to sue for negligence or loss of earnings was waived by employees. However, since that time there have been significant changes to the Act and to employment structures and conditions. The Act now requires people on workplace compensation, when assessed, to be fit only for a job which is judged as suitable and in which they can work for 35 hours or more per week and then compensation is terminated completely. There is no requirement for the earnings in this new job to be in any way similar to the earnings of the former occupation. In addition, injured people are often compelled to meet a substantial proportion of medical treatment, rehabilitation costs, travelling costs and some other charges associated with injury and/or disability.
Employers also have concerns about the ACC structure believing it to be too costly with only limited incentives for achieving a good safety record. There has been a trend in some areas towards more casual employment and short-term contracts. Many people are still employed on such a basis and have little or no job security with such employment often regarded as a "stepping stone" whilst they search for a more secure job.
New Zealand First's policy is based on the expectations that:
- at the time of paying their premium people are entitled to know exactly what income they would receive if they became incapacitated as a result of an accident;
- the entitlement to receive that level of income should remain even if they are unable to return to their original occupation and thus have to take on lesser paying employment;
- the entitlements of the self-employed need to be made fairer and include, if stipulated, the costs of a replacement worker; and,
- the rules and regulations governing ACC claimants need to be easily understood and applied.
PLANS
New Zealand First will:
- appoint an Accident Compensation Ombudsman with similar powers and responsibilities to those of the Health and Disability Commissioner as well as a requirement to work closely with Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) to develop an educative approach to safer workplaces;
- provide for employers to purchase 'set-rate' accident cover for employees, particularly lower paid part-time and casual workers;
- develop an equitable process for dealing with claims from casual or seasonal workers;
- remove the upper age limit for vocational rehabilitation;
- monitor fully all claims and compensation for treatment injury (formerly medical misadventure) to ensure claimants are treated fairly;
- reduce and in some cases eliminate part payments for medical treatment (cover in a 'no fault/blame' scheme should be comprehensive);
- amend rules relating to compensation payments to surviving spouses and allow aggregation of weekly payments;
- amend legislation to provide cover for 'loss of potential earnings' for those injured whilst involved in temporary or casual work when enrolled in formal study for a future career;
- ensure adequate funding and support for family home carers;
- provide incentives, by way of reduced premiums, for employers with good safety records;
- provide incentives (such as improved abatement conditions) for partially incapacitated people to make a part time return to the workforce;
- maintain lump sum compensation and provide for a regular review of the level;
- remove the entitlement to compensation for anyone injured whilst committing a crime;
- ensure that the victims of violent crime are appropriately covered by ACC with no liability on employers, local authorities or other organisations with individual coverage unless there is proven and direct culpability;
- encourage employers to offer a broader insurance package, which must include an ACC component, but would extend to a wider range of health cover. In such circumstances, ACC will stipulate the minimum standards and allow the employer to deal direct with an ACC approved insurance company.
- ensure that in the event of a dispute between a claimant and ACC which, whether by litigation or other settlement process, results in the claimant being paid entitlements going back beyond the current year, the claimant shall be taxed as if they had received the payment over the period claimed for, not based on a single lump sum;
- ensure that changes are made to the way in which physiotherapy services are funded and accredited in accordance with the results of the New Zealand First - instigated review which took place in 2007;
- conduct a review of a full range of other professions that could properly and efficaciously contribute to injury rehabilitation with a view to expanding the services available within the scheme;
- require that the Dispute Resolution Services Ltd (DRSL) be fully independent of ACC.
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