A.C.C. accuses Medical Assn of scare tactics

Press, 11 September 1989, Page 34

A.C.C. accuses Medical Assn of scare tactics

PA Wellington The Accident Compensation Corporation chairman, Mr Colin Beyer, has accused the Medical Association of "scaremongering” about proposed A.C.C. regulations. “It will be the Government, not the A.C.C., which will determine the final nature and extent of any regulations,” Mr Beyer said. “The association has assumed that patients will have to pay the entire cost of treatment and seek reimbursement from the A.C.C. The reality is that several options may be available.

“The corporation will be able to determine the most appropriate methods of payment for accidentrelated treatment costs only once it knows the

nature and extent of the regulations, which are likely to be introduced in November.” He said the association seemed to be saying that the changes to accident compensation legislation would require sexual assault victims to go through additional bureaucratic procedures to make a claim. “This is not so,” he said. “The corporation already has special systems in force to deal with persons suffering sexual assault or incest who have always had to lodge a claim if costs other than medical treatment were payable.” “Such claitps will continue to be handled by specially trained staff within the A.C.C.” The corporation had

also been accused of a “penny-pinching” attitude regarding its choice of treatment, he said. If anything, the new legislation broadened the scope of possible treatment providers, who were at present limited to those entitled to receive a general medical services benefit. “Government moves to introduce regulations over treatment costs reflect a desire to bring some market forces into play,” he said. “At present it is the providers rather than the consumers who determine the quantity and type of services supplied.” “This is reflected in the fact that although accident numbers have remained relatively constant, alleged accident consultations . have doubled in less than 10 years.”