1. LESLEY SOPER (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
Has he received any reports from medical professionals on possible changes to funding mechanisms for accidents and injury?
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Health) Link to this
Yes. [ Interruption] Thank you, Gerry. I have seen a report from New Zealand Doctor magazine, which calls National’s accident compensation policy “ideologically blinkered” and goes on to state: “It leaves a reader wondering why National would want to trash ACC, save for putting money in the pockets of lawyers and international insurance companies.” Doctors do not want National’s accident compensation policy, I say to Mr Brownlee.
Has the Minister seen any other reports from the medical sector regarding changes to funding mechanisms for accidents and injury?
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE Link to this
Yes; I have seen a report from the Society of Physiotherapists that states that under privatisation last time “patients were caught in the middle of a ‘bureaucratic nightmare’, as physiotherapists and other providers struggled to see which company covered them.” The only choice that National is offering patients is the choice to suffer. If National was committed to increasing choice, then it would have been up front with its policy, instead of whispering it to private business audiences, and it would not have come forward if it was not leaked by one of Mr Key’s former colleagues at Merrill Lynch.
Has the Minister seen any reports on who may benefit from changes to funding mechanisms for accidents and injury?
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE Link to this
Absolutely. The major beneficiaries of National’s plans to privatise accident compensation would be lawyers and insurance companies. The real question that Mr Key needs to answer now is: would there be a competitive tender process, or has he already stitched up a deal and set a price?
Madam SPEAKER
Peter BrownNoting that the Minister referred to the report by the Society of Physiotherapists that says how disgruntled it was at the last privatisation of accident compensation, has he seen the report of the physiotherapists that expresses their total disappointment that the Government has not gone with the financial aspects of the review into physiotherapists employed under the endorsed provider network scheme; if so, can he advise the House whether he would recommend to his colleague the Minister for ACC that something be done about that immediately?
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE Link to this
The member is quite right; that is a matter within the portfolio of my colleague the Minister for ACC. I have briefly seen the report, and I am advised that there has been good dialogue between physiotherapists and the Government and that more progress can be expected.