ACC Declares War on Claimants

News today confirms that ACC sees one of its roles as getting rid of long term claimants. It was given a quota by the government, and exceeded it.

At a recent conference a senior ACC manager referred to those targeted so far as “low hanging fruit”.  There is no word about what ACC’s role is supposed to be – the rehabilitation of the injured – just confirmation of a declaration of war by ACC towards some of the most vulnerable.

ACC has every incentive to handle claimants ruthlessly because there are no real consequences: the more roughly claimants are handled, the fewer the number of active claims, and therefore the better the bonuses for the ACC staff members involved. And what if the claimants try to fight back by seeking a formal review? Many of them are beaten down by the process to the point where they just give up. If the claimants manage to stay strong and win their review case, the most that ACC has to pay as costs is a paltry few hundred dollars – nothing really when you see what they save by throwing the injured in the scrap heap.