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My offices have dealt with a few ACC medical misadventure cases over the past few years so those readers may be interested to hear of the sweeping revamp of ACC's medical misadventure provisions.
These are aimed at making them simpler and fairer, and improve patient safety.
Medical misadventure - the term used to cover injuries caused by medical treatment - will be replaced by a new category called treatment injury.
The medical misadventure provisions are confusing and arbitrary so the new category of treatment injury will remove the requirement to find fault (medical error), or prove that a medical injury is rare or severe (medical mishap), before a patient is entitled to ACC cover. More people will be eligible for cover, and the claims process will be fairer, simpler and quicker.
Current provisions made health professionals reluctant to be involved in the claims process because of the emphasis on finding fault and reporting medical errors.
Changes will also be made to ACC's reporting provisions.
Under the new provisions, ACC will no longer be required to report all medical error to the relevant professional body and the Health and Disability Commissioner. Instead, ACC must report information to the relevant professional body if it considers there would be a risk of harm to the public. In all cases, it must also inform claimants of the Health and Disability Commissioner's role in investigating complaints about the standard of care provided.
Medical misadventure claims currently cost around $47 million (incl GST) annually. The new treatment injury provisions are estimated to cost an additional $8.69 million a year.
Legislation is likely to be introduced to Parliament by the middle of this year, with the new law coming into effect on 1 February 2005.
Benefits, superannuation and student allowances will increase from 1 April and income thresholds for the Community Services Card will rise as part of the annual cost of living adjustment.
With the increase in payments, the income thresholds for Community Services Card holders will also increase. This means that no cardholders will lose their entitlement to the card as a result of the increase in their benefit and an estimated additional 13,000 New Zealanders who have not been able to use the card will now be eligible.
The increase of 1.55 percent in the rates of benefits, allowances and Community Services Card thresholds equates to the increase in the cost of living for 2003, as measured by the Consumers Price Index (CPI).
Examples of the increases in the after tax weekly rates are:
- for a single unemployed person aged under 20 years living at home, receiving the Unemployment Benefit, up $1.67 to $109.43.
- for a single unemployed person aged between 20 to 24 years, receiving the Unemployment Benefit, up $2.09 to $136.79
- for a married couple receiving the Unemployment Benefit with no children, up $4.18 to $273.58
- for a single person over 18 receiving the Invalids Benefit, up $3.13 to $205.18
- for a sole parent with one child, receiving the Domestic Purposes Benefit, up $3.59 to $235.12
- for a single student aged over 25 years studying away from home receiving a Student Allowance, up $2.51 to $164.16
- for a married couple who both qualify for New Zealand Superannuation, up $5.84 to $383.22
The new Community Services Card thresholds now range from $19,741 a year for a single person sharing accommodation to $51,813 a year for a family of six people.
A purpose-designed package for those affected by the February floods has been announced.
The Government is already providing around $90 million support through its existing standard response policies and other measures agreed over the past few weeks.
These measures cover response activities of the emergency services, immediate welfare needs for people affected, labour through TaskForce Green to help with the clean-up, support and advisory services, repairing critical infrastructure such as roads and bridges, flexibility to the Income Tax Act, and matching of donations to flood relief appeals.
The new measures will cost up to a further $40 million.
The further aid package consists of two major elements. They are an agricultural package of about $25 million; and a broader community package of $15 million that includes more than $11 million in rates remission for those most affected, and additional assistance for road repairs.
In regards to roads and bridges, it is estimated the cost of repairs to State Highways in the flooded areas would be $10 million and it is likely a further $62 million will be necessary to repair local roads, of which $52 million will be covered under standard Transfund policy.
To further assist local authorities, the Government has decided to provide an additional $4 million on top of the standard funding.
Following from an earlier announcement that the Government will match donations for flood relief appeals, details of how the government contribution will be distributed have been announced.
At least $4.4 million will be paid to the Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Disaster Relief Fund Trust and up to $400,000 held for distribution among the Mayoral Trust Funds of the Taupo, Central Hawkes Bay and South Wairarapa District councils, as well as those of the Hutt City and Marlborough District.
The Government is under no illusion as to the severity of the events of mid-February. The flooding caused extensive damage to roads, bridges and other infrastructure, devastated farms and other rural activities, wrecked houses and put at risk the livelihoods of many.
The Government is convinced that it must act quickly and generously to prevent wider regional economic impacts.
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