Kerre Woodham: ACC needs to lift its game before lifting levies

I could not have put it better than ACC Minister Matt Doocey did yesterday. He wants ACC to lift its own game before it starts raising levies.  

The Accident Compensation Corporation has just begun a one-month consultation on suggested rises of more than 7% on levies for motorists, and more than 4% for employers and earners. I mean everybody else is raising their rates, aren't they? So here goes ACC. They have motorcyclists, professional sports people and ballerinas, specifically in their sights. Ballerinas?! Dainty, little, tiny, wee things like them, I imagine it's a strenuous job, and if something goes wrong, if you're a ballerina, it would go wrong badly, but I wouldn't have thought there would be that many to make a drain on the Accident Compensation Corporation’s finances. But none the less, be warned ballerinas – you are in the ACC’s sights.  

To be fair, ACC has said it is just a consultation at this stage, and the proposal is part of a legislative requirement every three years, with cabinet making the final decision on whether levies are raised before December. Can you imagine any minister going ‘hmm, probably a bit unfair, let's see ACC improve its game before we lift the levies’. I cannot see any government organisation or minister going, ‘you know what? let's keep things the way they are’. Doocey says ACC has to make its own efforts to lift its poor financial performance, it has to increase its rehab rates, and it has to do a lot more around injury prevention before they can make a case for raising levies. And that is a fair call given ACC has just done a U-turn and reintroduced one-on-one case managers. They took them away as part of a $74 million restructure, despite the fact the agency had been warned that the new restructure was a dud. A complete dud that wouldn't work.  

And in fact, we had a caller a couple of weeks ago who said that they had been trying to talk to ACC about their particular rehabilitation, they said they were passed from pillar to post, from one person to the next. They had to explain everything from beginning to end every single time they phoned, and it was just a waste of everybody's time and incredibly frustrating. So one-on-one case managers have been reinstated.  

It's just another colossal waste of time and money. The rollout began in 2020 with some zingy person leading the restructure going ‘hey, we're going to increase productivity. Yes, we are. We're going to save costs and you case managers, you're going to see a direct lift in your performance. We're going to improve your workloads’.  By 2022, running costs had doubled, there were no discernible benefits to clients, and there was little improvement to case backlogs with exhausted and overworked case managers dropping at their desks. So the agency's gone back after $74 million down the gurgler to one-on-one case management.  

Back to the proposed living increases, they are up for discussion, so let's discuss. Motorcyclists - the levy covers only around 28% of your costs to the ACC scheme. When things go wrong if you're a motorcyclist, things go wrong badly, so you're going to need a lot of rehab. So Matt Doocey asked do we lower the levy for lower powered bikes while increasing the cost for more powerful bikes? And I would really love to know what ballerinas are doing to stuff themselves up so much.  

Professional sportspeople - I thought you would have been well and truly covered with the medical system that surrounds you as part of your job and the fact that you would go private.  I mean when have you ever heard of any All Black going on the waiting list for a knee operation? They don't. They're in surgery the next day, so I would have that would have been part of your contract that your medical cost

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the carrywood of morning's podcast from News
Talk set B.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I could not have put it better than ACC Minister
Matt Doosey did yesterday. He wants ACC to lift its
own game before it starts raising levees. The Accident Compensation
Corporation has just begun a one month consultation on suggested
rises of more than seven percent on levees for motorists,

(00:33):
more than four percent for employers and earners. I mean,
everybody else is raising their rates, aren't they, So here
goes ACC. They have motorcyclists, professional sports people, and ballerinas
specifically in their sites. Ballerinas dainty, little tiny wee things
like them. It's like setting up a fatoirre on bluebirds. Anyway,

(01:00):
I imagine if they do. You know, it's a strenuous job,
and if something goes wrong, if you're a ballerina, or
it would go wrong badly. But I wouldn't have thought
there would be that many to make a drain on
the Accident Compensation Corporations finances. But nonetheless, be warned, ballerinas,
you are in the ACC sites. To be fair, ACC

(01:22):
has said it is just a consultation at this stage.
And the proposal is part of a legislative requirement every
three years, with Cabinet making the final decision on whether
levees are raised before December. Can you imagine any minister going,
probably a bit unfair, let's see ACC improve its game

(01:42):
before we lift the levees. I can't see. I cannot
see any government organization or minister going, you know what,
let's keep things the way they are. ACC has to
make its own efforts to lift its financial performance. It

(02:02):
has to increase its rehab rates, and it has to
do a lot more around injury prevention before they can
make a case for raising levies. And that is a
fair call, given ACC has just one a U turn
and reintroduced one on one case managers. They took them
away as part of a seventy four million dollar restructure,

(02:24):
despite the fact the agency had been warned that the
new restructure was a dud complete that it wouldn't work.
And in fact, we had a call her a couple
of weeks ago who said that they had been trying
to talk to ACC about their particular rehabilitation. I can't
remember the exact details of the case, but they said
they were passed from Pillar to post from one person

(02:46):
to the next. They had to explain everything from beginning
to end every single time they phoned, and it was
just a waste of everybody's time and incredibly frustrating. So
one on one case managers have been reinstated. It's just
another colossal waste of time and money. The roll up
began in twenty twenty with some zingy person leading the

(03:09):
restructure going, hey, we're going to increase productivity. Yes we are.
We're going to save costs and you case managers, you're
going to see a direct lift in your performance. We're
going to improve your workloads. By twenty twenty two, running
costs had doubled, there were no discernible benefits to clients,

(03:29):
and there was little improvement to case backlogs with exhaustive
no work case managers dropping at their desks. So the
agency's gone back after seventy four million dollars down the
gurglar to one on one case management. So back to
the proposed livy increases. They are up for discussion. So
let's discuss motorcyclists. The levy covers only around twenty eight

(03:52):
percent of your costs to the ACC scheme. Again, like
gallerinas so random, like when things go wrong. If you're
a motorcyclist, things go wrong badly, so you're going to
need a lot of rehab. So Matt Doocy said, do
we lower the levee for lower powered bikes while increasing

(04:13):
the cost for more powerful bikes? And I would really
love to know what ballerinas are doing to stuff themselves
up so much. Professional sportspeople, I thought you would have
been well and truly covered with the medical system that
surrounds you as part of your job. And the fact
that you would go private. I mean, when have you
ever heard of any all black going on the waiting

(04:37):
list for a knee operation. They don't, They're in surgery
the next day. So I would have thought that would
have been part of your contract, that your medical costs
are covered. Interesting though, and the Kerry Wood of morning's show,
two out of two of us have been on ACC
in the past year. Allen with her never ending shoulder

(05:01):
and fracture that it was well, No, the CEC wasn't
never ending, but she was off work for about half
a year, and then me with the smashed arm, you know,
but again the acc ended after I think it was

(05:23):
about six visits I've been paying for the medicines. I
paid for my own acupuncture. I didn't need any taxis.
But you know, we have used it. It is a
good system when it works. You know, you take responsibility
for your own recovery as well. You don't just lie
there lumpingly and expect the taxpayer and the government to

(05:45):
fix yourself. You know, you do do your own rehab
and try and get yourself better. Everybody says, oh, it's
the envy of the world. You're ACC It's just wonderful,
is it. Still there's a one billion dollar for shortfall,
and you know a lot of that is the damaged
babies that actually survived there beatings, but they are left

(06:07):
needing lifelong care. So a fund has been set aside
for their lifelong needs, which sickens me when it comes
to ACC. If you have had recent dealings with them,
I would love to get your viewpoint. You cannot get
blood out of a stone. I don't know how much
more they expect us to pay for everything, for all

(06:28):
of the everything, for the rates, for the insurance, for
the acc for the food, for the doctor's visits, for
the everything. You know, there comes a point where you
just cannot pay any more. But as acc serving you, well,
I would have to put up my hand and I
can do that now, and so can you and say

(06:49):
it has it has worked well provided you do your bit.
Two it's got to be a fifty to fifty partnership,
I think. But can they really justify asking for more
and levies when they have just wasted seventy four million
dollars on a failed restructure. I'm with Met Doucy, lift
your own game before you take money out of our pockets.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
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