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Magoo
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« on: April 12, 2009, 02:47:41 pm »

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/2330268/We-pay-50m-for-drug-abuse

We pay $50m for drug abuse

By STEVE HOPKINS - Sunday News
Last updated 08:35 12/04/2009


Drug and alcohol abusers are costing taxpayers more than $50 million a year in sickness and invalid benefits.

Almost 6000 New Zealanders are receiving the benefits because their addictions prevent them from working.

And the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), who pays them through Work and Income, doesn't even require the substance abusers to undertake the treatment that could cure them.

The Social Security Act 1964 directs Work and Income to require clients to "undertake medical assessments but not medical interventions".

Figures obtained by Sunday News under the Official Information Act show as of December 2008, 4190 people received a sickness benefit and 1648 an invalid's benefit due to addictions. Substance abusers make up eight percent of all sickness beneficiaries (50,896) and two percent of invalid beneficiaries (83,501).

Sickness beneficiaries received from $145.05 to $316.12 a week individually and up to $362.62 a week as a couple.

Invalid's beneficiaries get from $220.09 to $366.75 a week individually, and up to $453.28 a week as a couple.

The MSD couldn't tell Sunday News how much it spent annually on benefits for substance abusers because the rates varied "based on their individual circumstances".

But even based on the lowest payments, sickness beneficiaries with substance abuse problems are paid out more than $31.6m annually and invalid's beneficiaries with the same problems $18.8m a year a combined total of over $50m.

Auckland had the highest number of substance abusers claiming sickness benefits, with 752 beneficiaries having problems with booze and 789 with drugs.

It also had the largest number of invalid's beneficiaries, with 198 alcohol addicts and 160 drug addicts.

MSD chief executive Peter Hughes told Sunday News substance abusers required a doctor's approval to use their addiction as an excuse for not working.

"A person cannot claim they are unable to work and receive a benefit because of their addictions. A medical professional must determine that a person is medically unfit or physically unable to participate in the workforce," Hughes said.

"A benefit will only be paid where the physiological consequences of a person's addiction mean that they are unable to work."

Hughes said reasons for addicts being unable to work were "often complex, as there are typically multiple conditions contributing to their inability to participate in the workforce".

"For example, an alcoholic may also have cirrhosis or severe diabetes," he said.

While substance abusers were "encouraged to use appropriate services available through the health sector ... to help them move towards or into employment", Work and Income was unable to force them to seek treatment.

There was "no time limit" for addicts being able to claim either the sickness or invalid's benefit.

"Instead, a client's eligibility to receive a benefit is reviewed at regular intervals," Hughes said.

Sickness beneficiaries are reassessed after the first four weeks on the benefit and are required to supply Work and Income with a medical certificate every 13 weeks. The MSD said "generally two thirds" of sickness beneficiaries with substance abuse problems received the benefit for "less than two years".

Doctors assessing substance abusers for the invalid's benefit "indicate on their medical certificate whether a re-assessment of the person's condition is required in two years or five years".

A spokesman for MSD minister Paula Bennett told Sunday News that National "will be getting tough on applying sickness benefit eligibility criteria".

Bennett said they'd require "more frequent" medical assessments during the first few months someone was on a sickness benefit, and that anyone on that benefit for more than 12 months would be sent to a "second designated doctor" for a second opinion.

"While we believe these actions will help address the growth in sickness beneficiary numbers, we are not currently considering requiring people to seek medical treatment," she said.

NZ Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said he would "caution against" changing the law to force substance abusing beneficiaries to seek treatment, something that was debated by the Australian Parliament last year.

"While on the face of it, it sounds like a good solution, there's too much difficulty around that approach," he said.

Bell said "voluntarily treatment was always better than compulsory treatment", although admitted both could be equally effective.

The NZ Drug Foundation supported more resources being put into drug and alcohol treatment facilities and better training of Work and Income staff to recognise and direct clients who had drug and alcohol problems, he said.

"It is sad there are a lot of people out there on benefits that are existing in a state of alcohol and drug dependency who aren't either being given or seeking the help they need," Bell said.
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