John MacDonald: ACC is in desperate need of treatment

Here’s my perception of ACC: some people get ACC pay-outs at the drop of a hat and others have to fight, for what can be years.  

And it’s the fighting bit that seems to be biting ACC on the backside, with the news that it’s gone from having a $900 million surplus last year to a $7.2 billion deficit this year.   

It’s saying one of the reasons for that is that the courts are coming out with rulings telling it to pay people more money than it wanted to in the first place. Which, if that is the case, tells me that the ACC model is broken. It needs a re-think.   

I would hate us to be without ACC. But, when you have it saying that it’s losing money hand-over-fist because the courts are disagreeing with some of its decisions, then it needs a good looking-at. It is broken.   

I’ve got a mate who stuffed his shoulder doing his job. He was a painter for years from when he left school, and his shoulder packed a sad after years and years of painting.  

If you’ve ever done a bit of painting, you’ll know how doing it day-in, day-out must mess around with your body. Your shoulder. Your neck.   

So this guy had a genuine work injury, but it seemed like he had to fight for his shoulder operation for yonks. And I’m pretty sure that was after ACC had already paid out for his other shoulder. It was nuts.  

Eventually, after a huge battle, ACC agreed to cover it.  

So he’s an example of one end of the ACC spectrum. And he’s not the most extreme example I’ve heard of someone who has been battling ACC for about four years.  

What happened there is she fell from her deck, hit her back on a railway sleeper in the garden, hasn’t been able to work since and, since then, she’s been battling ACC to prove that the back injury wasn’t something that existed before she had her accident.  

And she has been fighting and fighting and fighting. She used to be a full-time midwife but now spends her days in bed or in a wheelchair, and, by the sound of it, it seems battling ACC has become her life.  

This particular case is still going on. But, if this person is eventually successful and does manage to prove that ACC is in the wrong, then it will be another example of the types of cases that ACC is partly blaming for its $7.2 billion deficit.   

It’s saying that court rulings are being handed down in favour of the people wanting more compensation or wanting, at least, some compensation.  

Then you get the other examples where ACC money flows like a tap.  

An example I’ve got is when one of the kids came off their bike at the adventure park, in Christchurch. He was checked over by the patrol staff there and they thought he might have been concussed and said we should take him to after-hours, just in case.  

I did that and they checked him out and they said ‘no concussion’. But just as I was about to pay, the person behind the counter asked if we’d like them to clean up some of his scratches.   

Which made sense to me. Since we were there.  

So they did that and then they said, because they’d cleaned up the scratches, the whole thing would be covered by ACC and we didn’t have to pay anything.  

Which seemed to me like a rort. I wasn’t sure who was rorting who, but there was no need for ACC to cover it. But that’s what happened.  

ACC boss Megan Main says it’s a bit of a balancing act for them, when it comes to the level of ACC support people get.  

Quite often, though, that's where the trouble starts.  

Either way, what we're seeing is proof that the ACC model —while better than nothing— is coming unstuck and needs an overhaul.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Here's my perception of ACC. Here's how I see it.
Some people get ACC payouts at the drop of a hat,
and others have to fight for what can be years.
And it's the fighting bit that seems to be biting
ACC on the backside. With the news today that it's
gone from having a nine hundred million dollar surplus last

(00:34):
year to a seven point two billion dollar deficit this year,
it's saimed today that one of the reasons for that
is that the courts are coming up with rulings telling
IT to pay people more money than it wanted to
in the first place, or to pay them anything. Which
if that is the case, and ACC says that is

(00:56):
the case, well that tells me that the ACC model
is broken and needs a rethink. Now, I would hate
us to be without ACC. But when you have it
saying ACC itself saying like it is today that it's
losing money handover first because the courts are disagreeing with
some of its decisions, it needs a good look at that,

(01:18):
doesn't it? It is broken, isn't it. I'm going to
mate who stuffed his shoulder doing his job. He was
a painter for years, not anymore, but he was for
years from when he left school and his shoulder packed.
He said, after years and years of painting. If you've
ever done a bit of painting, you will know how
doing it day in day out must mess around with

(01:40):
your body, your shoulder, your neck. As if you have
ever painted a ceiling, for example, on a long wee
can't imagine imagine doing that all the time and what
it would do to your body. So this made him mind.
He had a genuine work injury. But he had to
fight for his shoulder operation for Yonks. And I'm pretty

(02:01):
sure too that that was after ACC had already paid
out for his other shoulder. I mean, it was absolutely
nat he got there. In the end, eventually, after a
huge battle, ACC agreed to cover it. So he's an
example of one end of the ACC spectrum. You might
have some stories as well, and he's not the most

(02:21):
extreme example I've heard of. Jess was telling me about
someone she knows who's been battling ACC for about four
years now, and what happened there is she fell from
her deck, this person that Jess knows, and when she
fell from the deck. She hid her back on a
railway sleeper in the garden, So imagine that, and she
hasn't been able to work since four years ago was

(02:42):
and since then she's been battling ACC to prove that
the back injury wasn't something that existed before she had
her accident. Sound familiar. And she's been fighting and fighting
and fighting. She used to be a full time midwife
for this woman, but now she spends her day in
bed or in a wheelchair. And by the sounds of it,
from what Jess telling me, it seems battling ACC has

(03:04):
become this woman's life this particular case, by the way,
it's still going on. But if this person just knows
is eventually successful and does manage to prove that ACC
is in the wrong, then this will be another example
of the types of cases that ACC is partly blaming
for its seven point two billion dollar deficit. It's saying

(03:24):
that court rulings are being handed down in favor of
the people wanting more compensation or wanting some compensation at least.
Then you get the other examples, and this is where
it seems nuts, where ACC money seems to flow like
a tap and an example I've got a personal example
is when one of the kids came off their bikes
at the Adventure Park in christ Church and he was

(03:46):
checked over by the patrol staff there and they said, oh,
you better go and have him checked just in case
he might have a concussion. Not sure, but go, you know,
go and get him checked out. So he did that,
and they checked him out and they said no concussion.
But just as I was about to pay, the person
behind the counter they said, oh, would you like us
to clean up some of the scratches. That made sense

(04:09):
to me, I mean, we were there, why not. So
they did that, and then they said because they'd cleaned,
they'd cleaned up as scratches, the whole thing would be
covered by ACC and I didn't have to pay anything,
which seemed to me like a bit of a rought.
I mean, it wasn't. I wasn't sure her was wrotten her.
I'm not saying that after ours was wrought in ACC,

(04:29):
but there was no need for ACC to cover that. Well,
I didn't, I didn't think so anyway, But that's what happened.
And you might have heard ACC boss Megan Maine talking
to Mike earlier. She was saying, it's a bit of
a balancing act for them when it comes to the
level of ACC support people get.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
We're working closely with clients, particularly clients receiving weekly compensation
they're off work. You know, we know there's so much
evidence that being off work is not good for you,
it's not good for your well being, and so we
really want to make sure we're giving people what they need,
not giving them more than they need. We don't want
to get people dependent.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
On and here that's here. Quite often it can be
ACC's version of what it thinks people need. That's where
the trouble starts. Nevertheless, whatever whatever is happening at ACC,
the finances have gone pear shaped. And one of the
things the ACC boss was talking to Mike about this
morning was upping the ACC levees a bit. You'll love

(05:27):
that one. It probably isn't going to go down well
either with the Finance Minister Nicola Willis. I see that
Health Minister Shane Retti isn't making any comment on the
situation at this point with ACC, but Nicola Willis is
not holding back. She's not happy about this deficit.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
When ACC is not managing its costs well every single
worker pays a higher levy, and I don't like those
costs continuing to go up five percent every year or
more when it comes to some of the fees. So yeah,
we're taking a good hard look at ACC to make
sure that it is well run and that they are
keeping their costs down.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
So that ACC boss that you heard earlier, and she
seemed like a very nice person when she was talking
to Mike this morning, But she's going to have some
explaining to do to the government, isn't she. Nevertheless, I
think that what we're seeing today is proof that the
ACC model, while it's better than nothing, is better than nothing.
I think this deficit proves that it is coming unstuck

(06:24):
and it needs some sort of overhaul. I think it's
broken or well and truly on the way to being broken.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
For more from Category Mornings with John McDonald, listen live
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