ACC Vaccine-Injury Costs - Where the Money Really Goes and How to Fix It

Introduction

• In 2018, ACC paid $146,449 for all vaccine-related treatment injuries.

• In 2019, it was $145,875 - so steady.

• By contrast, between September 2022 and March 2024, ACC paid out nearly $7.6 million. I suspect this year is much more and next year will be even greater.

• The average monthly spend in that 19-month period — about $398,000 — is greater than an entire year’s total before COVID.

At first glance, this looks like ACC is now being generous to injured people. From my decades of experience assisting claimants, I believe that is not what is happening. I suspect a good deal of this money is going towards shutting these claimants down - to ensure that all but a few succeed. The signs are there that the ACC is facing a potential financial blow-out, if not already, and it is pulling out all of the stops, fairly and unfairly, to shut it down, and prevent its collapse.

Where the Money Really Goes

The majority of these new costs are not reaching claimants in the form of treatment, rehabilitation, or income support. Instead, I suspect they are being funnelled into payments for professionals — cardiologists, neurologists, psychologists, and other medical assessors — hired by ACC to produce reports. I wonder, as well, if there is not a kind of closed shop operating where fellow health professionals, rightly or wrongly look after each other - kind of like the proverbial "nudge-nudge - wink-wink".

These reports are too often not about helping the injured person. They are written to:

• question or obscure causation,

• fragment multi-system illnesses into separate, dismissible parts,

• and ultimately provide ACC with the justification to decline or shut down claims.

I saw this pattern from the inside. I was proud to work with ACC in the late 1970s setting up its sports and recreation injury prevention, treatment and rehabilitation programmes, and later, through the 1990s, as one of their largest private rehabilitation contractors. I even wrote reports for an occupational medicine company contracted to ACC to produce "fitness for work" medical assessments and reports. But I was quietly warned not to write “too many” reports unfavourable to ACC, or the business would be taken elsewhere. Rather than compromise my ethics, I walked away, taking with me the financial hit of losing that lucrative source of income.

The system has not changed — except that the sums are now far larger.

Why Lawyers Are Reluctant and Leaving This Area of Law

Financial Disincentives

ACC review and appeal work is time-consuming, medically complex, and unpredictable. Yet the financial return for lawyers is minimal compared with other areas of practice.

Unlike civil litigation overseas, there are no large damages payouts here — only modest compensation. For most lawyers, the hours required simply don’t add up against the likely fees.

Institutional Imbalance

ACC is a vast, well-resourced organisation with in-house legal teams and a stable of contracted medical assessors. Claimants and their lawyers face an uphill battle against this imbalance. The odds are stacked in favour of the Corporation, and many lawyers know that even strong cases can be dragged out for years with uncertain results.

Professional and Reputational Risks

In today’s climate, any lawyer who takes on vaccine-injury cases risks being stigmatised or labelled. This creates a chilling effect: even if no one says it directly, the sense is that this line of work is not a safe career move. Many lawyers prefer to avoid the potential damage to their reputation or standing within the profession.

Emotional and Practical Burden

These cases are emotionally heavy. Claimants are often unwell, distressed, and struggling financially. Representing them demands not just legal skill but patience and resilience. For lawyers already stretched thin, the extra burden can feel overwhelming, especially when combined with poor financial reward and institutional pushback.

Result: Faced with poor odds, high stress, and little reward, many lawyers quietly step away from this field. The consequence is that claimants — often the most vulnerable — are left with even fewer options for fair representation.

The Effect on Claimants

Claimants for injuries, in this case, ones caused by medical procedures are usually exhausted, unwell, and financially stretched. They must face an endless series of assessments, reports, and bureaucratic hurdles — jumping through hoop after hoop, and eventually through burning hoops. I wonder, as well, just how fair can it be when ACC knows, consciously or not, that many will simply give up.

The outcome:

• Millions of dollars flow to professional assessments.

• Claimants are isolated and receive little real support.

• Valid claims are delayed, fractured, or denied.

A Way Forward – A Charitable Trust

There is a solution. We need to level the playing field. I propose forming a Charitable Trust, seeded by one or two generous donations, to:

• Fund independent legal representation for ACC claimants harmed by medical treatment.

• Pay for truly independent medical experts — not financially reliant on ACC — to give honest, evidence-based testimony.

• Support claimants at the hardest stage — initiating and sustaining claims through to completion.

In many cases, some of these costs may later be reimbursed by ACC. But the Trust’s purpose is to remove the initial barrier that stops most people from ever getting a fair hearing.

Why This Matters

• It restores fairness to a system that is currently heavily stacked against the injured.

• It prevents ACC from exploiting claimant fatigue, ignorance, isolation from independent professional services, and financial stress.

• It gives ordinary New Zealanders the backing they need to pursue legitimate claims without being crushed by bureaucracy.

Concluding Words

I once believed ACC could be the best injury compensation system in the world, and I was proud to play a part in building it. Today, I see a system that has lost its way — a bureucratic monster that spends millions not on supporting claimants, but on reports that cloud, complicate, and close their cases.

By creating an independent Charitable Trust, we can begin to redress this imbalance. With proper funding, claimants will finally have access to fair legal representation and impartial medical expertise. Only then can we restore compassion, independence, and true justice to New Zealand’s treatment-injury system.

Disclaimer

This statement is based on my professional and personal experience. It is not legal advice. Anyone considering an ACC claim should seek independent legal and medical guidance.