No. Way.
Jobseeker benefit for cancer patients ‘ludicrous’
Hundreds of cancer patients are being placed on the Jobseeker benefit while they are getting treatment.The Cancer Society calls the system ludicrous and says it forces people with the disease to jump through hoops to pay their bills.
One woman, who does not want to be identified, applied for a benefit when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
She was put on Jobseeker Support, which replaced the sickness benefit after the 2013 welfare reforms.
She said she had to pay for a medical certificate every month to prove she could not work – even though her surgeon insisted she would be off for much longer.
“The letter from the hospital wasn’t sufficient. I then had to go back and get a doctor’s note to keep them happy, just to prove the fact that I was going in for surgery,” she said.
“Then I also had to, on the day of my surgery, get someone from the hospital to fax through that I had been operated on.”
Cancer Society chief executive Claire Austin said the woman’s story was common, and the system lacked common sense and sensitivity.
She said many cancer patients had never been on a benefit before, and deserved help while they were going through an extremely tough time.
…and this is how you manufacture a surplus. You slash and burn social welfare while borrowing billions for tax cuts to balance the books.
This is the NZ we live in. Pity we don’t have Campbell Live to bring down immediate pressure to change this cruel policy.
Who can possibly not reconcile this so-called “surplus” with even the most basic of creative accounting?
The only thing that amazes me is it took them this long to pull this stunt off.
However I think Nationals disdain for cancer patients is aimed squarely at manipulating employment statistics, more than the shell game that produced this shonkey “surplus”.
Looks like English is on track to increase government debt by 10 billion by the end of the year.
I see this cruel f*ckery for myself, once a fortnight at my MSD “job seminar”.
A melting pot of employable people, mixed with people with serious mental illness (literally fighting with the voices in their heads), a dash of autistic folk and a sprinkling of ex Rimutaka prisoners. All pooled together, because the geniuses at MSD (the artist formally known as WINZ) believe we’re all in the same boat.
All we need is a job.
Their “dolly mixture” model is an abject failure, of course. Many people in that group will never hold down a job, and require specialist help. If the qualified professionals can’t find employment, how will the special snowflakes??
Anther small but significant contribution to the surplus comes from the unused portion of the $92 million over four years kindly budgeted by National in response to the decade long legal action by family carers of high needs adult disabled Kiwis.
https://www.national.org.nz/news/news/media-releases/detail/2013/05/16/$92m-to-pay-family-carers-of-disabled-adults
The $24 million per year was for paying (if you can call it pay) only 1600 parent carers.
The ‘Special” scheme was so crappy…http://www.insitemagazine.co.nz/issues/january-2014/funded-family-care-flawed-or-fair/#.Vh7TxOyqqko
that only 97 people have applied for and been approved for the full funding.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/242096/disabled-care-pay-policy-'unworkable‘
TBD covered this at the time.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/05/19/a-sad-day-for-disability-rights/
As well as saving big time on care for disabled Kiwis, I suspect there are considerable savings being made by having seriously ill people being cared for in the community rather than in hospital.
Community care is much cheaper…some family can be paid by the DHBs for providing the care….and the courier companies are doing a roaring trade in delivering medical supplies to people’s homes.
Those of us at the bottom try to do our bit.
Actually the changes to welfare that occurred in 2013 will only have contributed to a possible surplus for 2014. Now that we’re in 2015 the reduction in spending on benefits will have reduced the size of the economy and the government will be getting proportionately less tax as a result.
I totally agree however that Bill English-enforced mingy-ness is getting them their surplus though. To give just one example; I work for a charitable organization and I discovered when I went to upload this year’s accounts to the charities commission that not only had they devised a new system where we did all their work for them but that we also had to pay them $50 for the privilege.
Tiny amounts scrounged all through the system have got them their blessed surplus not good management of the economy.
Incidentally, as well as cancer patients having to go on Jobseeker benefits I’ve heard anecdotally about intellectually challenged people having to do work training, and widow’s with 1 month to go before they’re eligible for the pension also having to do work training.
This surplus is about as real as the Loch Ness Monster. It has been manufactured to try and shore up National’s collapsing credibility (even amongst its buddies) as good financial managers.
Each Bill English budget should come with a disclaimer at the end. Something like: warning: this document is for self-delusional purposes only, people are advised not to act on the contents of this budget. Any figures stated or promises made in this document are subject to revision or abandonment at any time without notice.
I’ve already heard a prediction that they’ll be in deficit again next year – I think it was on the Natrad news.
I heard the Radio NZ report on cancer patients being made to take up WINZ work-seeking obligations. What a disgusting state of affairs!!
Can this country go any lower?
What next, taxing the blind for having a “pet” (Seeing eye dog) ?
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