Focus on ACC

Employers will not be able to choose an accident insurance provider in the foreseeable future, Minister for Accident Compensation Nick Smith told a Parliamentary select committee this morning.

“That is not a priority at the moment,” Dr Smith said in response to questions from Labour MP Carol Beaumont.

“I stress that…we did not expect to come into government and find the scale of the problems within ACC that we have found. That is why we have had to change our focus.”

Dr Smith said there had been no discussion at Cabinet, Cabinet committee, Department of Labour or ACC board level on the issue of opening up the scheme’s work account to competition.

The government is putting the final touches on a group to undertake a “stock take” of the scheme and it had been assumed this would include the question of allowing employers to choose their accident insurance provider.

“The Cabinet hasn’t considered that issue and it is not my intention as minister to include the issue of workplace competition as part of that stock take,” Dr Smith said.
Dr Smith conceded – in answer to a question form Green MP Sue Bradford – that given the current financial pressures facing insurance companies “it might not be the smartest time to go down that policy direction.”

The workplace account is the only part of the scheme which is currently solvent – in fact it is, as the ACC board chairman John Judge pointed out to the committee, overfunded at present.

The government is also looking at greater experience rating not only for employers – as the National; Business Review reported last week – but also for motorists.

Currently the motor vehicle levy is a flat fee included in vehicle registration, but Dr Smith cited research which indicates if every car in New Zealand had a five star safety rating “we would shave 40-50% off accident costs.”

NBR

Comments (0)

Show/hide comments

Show/hide comment form