Private care plan for sick beneficiaries

By RUTH BERRY, political reporter

The Government is planning a welfare system overhaul that would fast-track some sickness and invalid beneficiaries through the health system to get them back to work.

Some beneficiaries would be treated like ACC clients and sent to private hospitals for surgery.

More intensive use of rehabilitation programmes is also understood to be under investigation.

The plan, which would take beneficiaries off public health waiting lists, is likely to be aimed at those who have jobs to go to if their health problems can be overcome.

The rationale is simple - Work and Income would get people back into the workforce quickly, and taxpayers would be saved millions of dollars a year in benefit payments.

Social Development Minister Steve Maharey told a parliamentary select committee that officials were investigating the practicality of the plan.

Some significant issues had to be resolved before he would be convinced the proposal would work.

"If in the next year we can get those sealed off, I'll be going to Cabinet to say this is a winner," he said after the committee meeting.

In a rare display of political unity, National and Act yesterday supported the idea, saying it appeared to make sense.

Unemployment is falling but the number of sickness and invalid beneficiaries is rising, and the trend is expected to continue.

New Zealand has 70,304 invalid beneficiaries and 41,353 sickness beneficiaries.

Both categories are about 4000 up on the same time last year, which is worrying the Government.

Mr Maharey said earlier inquiries had suggested the plan would create "queue-jumping" problems.

But the Ministry of Health had since told him it would not disadvantage other patients on waiting lists.

He said the model would be similar to ACC, which since 1996 has held contracts with a wide range of health providers - many of them private - enabling it to get its clients' injuries treated rapidly.

ACC clients who can return to work once treated receive priority.

Mr Maharey said a similar approach would have to be used for beneficiaries, who might have to prove they had a job to go to if Work and Income paid for their operation.

A case he had heard about on Radio Pacific highlighted the current system's problem.

It involved a man on a waiting list for an operation costing only a few thousand dollars.

"He had gone along to his case manager and said, 'This is how long I'm going to have to wait and I figured out it would cost us $17,000 [to keep him on a benefit in the meantime].'

"He said, 'I have a job and I could go back tomorrow - this is ridiculous'.

"What the Government is saying is 'That's our feeling, too. So let's find out if this is possible and do it'."

Mr Maharey did not know yesterday how many beneficiaries might be affected by the proposal.

Act MP Muriel Newman said the number was "not insignificant" and could be up to a fifth of invalid and sickness beneficiaries.

She had been pressing Mr Maharey to move on the issue for some time, and welcomed the idea.

The health waiting list delays were such that people struggled to retrieve their jobs or businesses even after being treated.

National MP Katherine Rich said the plan seemed to make sense, but the devil was in the detail.

Sickness benefits

Most beneficiaries receive payments for between a few months and five years.

Most receive less than $15,000 a year.

They are paid for illness, injury, pregnancy or disability.

Applicants need a medical certificate from a doctor.