THE PRESS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1983. Accident compensation

Press, 13 October 1983, Page 20

THE PRESS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1983. Accident compensation

Have New Zealanders suddenly become careless and accident-prone? The proposition is highly unlikely, but it could be considered one explanation for the meteoric rise in the bill being charged to the Accident Compensation Corporation for medical treatment. This went up by ?12.9 million, or 47 per cent, in the 12 months to March 31, this year. Now at $40.4 million, the cost of medical treatment being booked up to the corporation has more than doubled in the last two years. In the same period, the number of claims lodged with the corporation has risen only from 129,000 to 145,000, and most of that occurred in the last year.

Against this background, Opposition members of Parliament have raised the possibility that doctors are exploiting the system. Since the corporation is investigating the instance of one doctor who received almost $lOO,OOO in accident compensation payments in one year, a large section of the public would tend to believe that the allegations of abuse of the system have substance. When the corporation’s annual report was presented to Parliament earlier this year, the corporation said that it was “deeply concerned” by the rapid escalation in both the fees charged for treatment and the number of treatments being provided. Discussions have been held with the various professional groups to set a simple schedule of fees, but this seems a rather lame response to a disturbing state of affairs. With the exception of last year, the number of claims lodged with the corporation each year since 1978 showed little variation, increasing at the most by 2.5 per cent, and even showing a drop in one year. In the last 12 months, however, the number of claims lodged increased by more than 12,000, or almost 10 per

cent. Does this really mean that the corporation’s accident prevention campaigns are having no effect? Or does it suggest, as one member of Parliament alleges, that doctors are putting their hands into the till without proper cause?

The large increase in the cost of medical treatment being charged against the corporation by doctors, and by other professionals auxiliary to medicine, such as chiropractors, is far in excess of the extra work being recorded. That the medical bill should go up by almost a half at a time when the number of cases dealt with by the corporation increased by only 10 per cent is a curiosity that should not be waved aside with a bland assurance that everyone is playing fair. The increase in charges can get little sympathy from a public that expects the freeze on incomes to apply equally, even if members of the public are getting the treatment. The suggestion that some doctors are charging work to the corporation because the return from the general medical services benefit is inadequate deserves careful investigation and, it is to be hoped, complete rebuttal. As things stand, this proposition is a more likely cause of the high medical treatment bill than an inexplicable spate of “accidents.” The Minister responsible for the corporation, Mr Bolger, replied to the criticisms in Parliament by saying there was “certainly no evidence whatsoever” of doctors abusing the compensation system. The figures are evidence that something is amiss. The Minister owes it to the corporation and its contributors to show positively that the system is not being abused. Simply relying on an absence of evidence will not settle the questions that have been raised.