10 June 2012

Minister must rein in ACC

Tonight’s 60 Minutes programme which featured Bronwyn Pullar, struck an all too familiar chord with long term ACC clients says Denise Powell, spokesperson for Acclaim Otago.

“We congratulate Bronwyn for having the fortitude to withstand immense media and personal pressure and still tell her story”.

“In our view this was not just a story about Bronwyn Pullar,” says Dr Powell. “Rather she used her experience to expose some of the all too frequent practices that have unfortunately turned our world class accident compensation scheme into an insurance based risk and liability balance sheet where injured people are seen as liabilities rather than people.”

The questionable independence of some assessors was also highlighted and “ACC needs to be far more transparent when it comes to medical and Vocational Independence assessments,” Dr Powell says.

“ACC minister, Judith Collins must take control immediately and send the board a very clear message about the unacceptable practices currently infesting the scheme. Nothing less will do,” said Dr Powell.

ENDS

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