Hair-loss sufferer set to fight new benefit rules

By REBECCA WALSH

Jean Little has battled a lifetime with hair loss.

The 64-year-old started losing her hair when she was aged just two. By the time she was 18 she was completely bald.

In the 1980s, after years spent "covering up", she petitioned the Government for wig subsidies for people like her with alopecia, and won.

Now the Auckland woman is preparing to do battle again over what she calls "unfair" changes to the system to be introduced nationwide mid-year.

Mrs Little wears real hair wigs that need replacing every five to six years. Under the old system she could accrue five or six years of subsidy - about $1080 - towards the cost of a $2200-$2800 wig.

Now she can accrue only three years of subsidy, or $760 at the most. She cannot build up two three-year periods. It is a system she is struggling to see the logic of.

"It just seems the person who takes care of [their wig] is getting punished for it under this new system ... the minister said it's more fair and equitable - to me that's just nonsense."

Mrs Little, who wore cheaper synthetic wigs for 10 years, gave them up because they irritated her scalp too much. She said real hair wigs not only last longer, they look better, are more secure and over time work out to be cheaper.

A letter she received from Health Minister Annette King in March acknowledged people who choose real hair wigs will have to pay more themselves: "It's not that the Government considers people who have lost their hair through alopecia or medical treatment are any less deserving than others. The demands on health funding are such that it is not possible to provide every service New Zealanders want to the extent that they would wish."

Mrs Little, who set up a support group for people with alopecia 20 years ago which is now inactive, is prepared to fight to see the system changed.

She remembers a childhood of doctor's visits. She suffered taunts from other schoolchildren when her eyebrows fell out and worried endlessly if put in situations outside her comfort zone - staying the night anywhere always raised questions about whether she would have to share a room and her "secret".

For years, she and other alopecia sufferers were turned down for any form of Government assistance. Then the support group successfully petitioned for subsidies.

David Chrisp, service development manager disability services for the Ministry of Health, said the subsidy changes were being made to ensure consistency across the country because the Auckland/Northland region had operated differently.

He said the ministry would consult on a possible variation to the subsidy to allow those who bought a more expensive wig but replaced it less often to accrue their entitlement over more than the three-year cycle.