September 2010 - BE HEARD DAY

Have your say on "Be Heard Day" Saturday 18 September.

The NZAS is supporting the National Foundation for the Deaf's initiative to ask Members of Parliament to set aside time to listen to audiologists and their clients'/patients' views about the recent Government changes to ACC legislation and proposed changes to ACC regulations.

Between 9am and noon on Saturday 18 September is our chance to get our local MPs to listen to audiological and patient concerns about the ACC changes. During this "Be Heard Day" MPs will be available and the NZAS is calling on audiologists and their clients to make an appointment with their local MP to make them aware of the real impact of the changes.

The proposal to introduce part-charges for rehabilitation and the introduction of a 6 per cent threshold before claims will be accepted for cover of noise induced hearing loss are two fundamental changes to the ACC scheme.

Under the proposed regulations ACC will only pay a portion of the total cost with the other portion having to be paid by the claimant.
* It's discriminatory
This proposal is discriminatory. It means all claimants must pay more for hearing services as they age, and all will lose entitlement from ACC eventually, irrespective of their individual circumstances or injury. In particular the proposal does not rely on a valid or reliable method to apportion costs. If implemented, this change will have a major impact on people with noise-damaged hearing, particularly the elderly, as many will have to go without hearing aids because they are unable to afford their mandated portion of costs.

* 6 percent threshold is unfair
The introduction of the 6% threshold will deny many people with significant noise damage cover and entitlement for hearing aids. These changes will also have a significant impact on the audiology sectors' ability to provide services which meet the ethical requirements of the NZAS.

* Issues to consider are:
- The ACC Minister Dr Nick Smith has introduced these changes purely to cut costs yet ACC announced a $2.2 billion surplus last year.
- ACC is trying to delineate hearing loss by percentage according to injury or age and other causes yet there is no reliable test to separate hearing loss due to these different causes. Ear-nose-and- throat specialists will be placed in a position of 'estimating' - without scientific basis- the proportion due to work injury. These estimates will be used to determine the 'exact' amount individuals will have to contribute towards their hearing aids.

Those most affected, the elderly, spent a considerable time in the 1960s to 1980s in work environments where hearing protection was rarely thought of or provided.

- Noise induced loss is permanent it doesn't go away just because a person ages. Recent scientific research indicates that the ageing process is in fact accelerated by noise damage in earlier life. Under the proposed regulations ACC will be placing these people in a position where they may be unable to obtain the hearing aids they need. This amounts to age discrimination. If injury rehabilitation also benefits other conditions the claimant has, that benefit comes at no extra cost to ACC.

- Owing to the weighting of the NAL scale for percentage hearing loss, it takes substantial damage in the high frequencies to achieve a 6 per cent noise related hearing loss on the NAL scale. Those with noise-induced loss that is less than 6% will either have to fund hearing aids and services privately or have their ability to function in work and social environments severely impacted, or successfully sue an employer for causing their injury. A considerable number of people with significant noise-induced loss will now be denied cover for hearing aids.

* Presentation of the changes to the public has clouded the issue: On May 17, ACC Minister, Dr Nick Smith announced the cost of hearing injury claims to ACC was $80m; but that figure is a projection for 2014, with the actual cost of claims amounting to $62m last year. Not only was Dr Smith's statement incorrect, but also it typifies overstatements of the issue.

ACC says the number of claims is increasing and the present system is unaffordable, yet introduction of OSH work-place requirements for hearing protection in the 1980s and a greater awareness of the need to protect hearing by younger workers means the present number of claims is just a "bubble" and will not continue into the future with present day younger workers. This is apparent in recent figures of the number of claims and the costs of claims for hearing services, both of which have shown very slow growth in the past 4 years. This reduction is supported by initial results from research funded by ACC and the HRC and being carried out at the University of Auckland. Future projections by ACC are based on historical figures. ACC should wait to allow the research to be completed and reported on before the development of policy.

On May 17, Dr Smith incorrectly stated that audiologists were sending claimant's hearing aid batteries out without regard for need and by changing this practice ACC had cut battery costs by 45%, The truth is that ACC distributes batteries and did this "automatically" for 15 years. ACC changed to a request-driven service only after repeated advice from audiologists to do this to save wastage.

Dr Smith claims that the current system is unfair to levy payers because generally ACC claimants who receive entitlements also have some age related hearing loss. In Dr Smith's view, levy payers are paying to provide rehabilitation of that age related hearing loss. This is a false assertion because the cost of providing hearing services to restore function of the work related injury do not increase because a claimant ages. Indeed ACC statistics clearly show that these costs decrease as a person ages. Thus the Proposed regulations seek to charge claimant's increasing amounts of money to pay for their work related injury as they age. These changes will significantly impact our clients and will have an impact on our ability to provide services meeting ethical requirements.

Make sure you have your say on "Be Heard Day" - make an appointment with your local MP now, and encourage your clients to do the same or join you!

June 2010

MAJOR cuts are being planned by ACC cover for people with noise induced loss. A media release and copy of the NZAS submission to government on this issue can be found using this link.