Drug-abusing beneficiary costs up $10m

A surge in benefit payments to support alcoholics and drug users who say they cannot work has cost taxpayers an extra $10 million in the past year, new figures show.

Figures issued to The Dominion Post under the Official Information Act show there are 4494 sickness beneficiaries who have drug and alcohol abuse listed as their primary reason for being unable to work a rise of 17 per cent on 3842 last year.

A further 1674 people claim the invalid's benefit due to an inability to work because of drug and alcohol abuse up 10 per cent on last year's 1519.

The numbers have prompted the Government to signal its intention to introduce a policy to clamp down on long-term sickness beneficiaries.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said yesterday that the new policy would require someone who has received the sickness benefit continuously for 12 months to be sent to a designated doctor for a second opinion.

"Where possible, those on the sickness benefit should be able to access the health interventions they need to enable that to happen," she said.

The move has been welcomed by the Medical Association, which said a second opinion provided value to both the patient and the primary doctor.

"We'd like to see [the ministry] get more proactive, like ACC, in seeing what they can do to get someone off the benefit," chairman Peter Foley said.

The ministry said the increase in recipients of sickness-related benefits recorded as drug or alcohol abuse was "in line" with the overall increase in main benefits.

"The increase for this specific group is, of course, a concern," Ms Bennett said.

Main benefits have risen about 20 per cent in the past year.

However, alcohol and drug counsellor Roger Brooking said the increase was putting substance abusers into a "holding pattern" where they did not get any treatment.

The decision to declare someone unfit for work, and therefore eligible for a sickness or invalid benefit, is made by a doctor. Work and Income rules require a review after four weeks and every 13 weeks thereafter.

A single person on a sickness benefit aged 25 receives $219.25 a week gross. The invalid benefit pays $277.50 a week.

Dr Foley said the association worked with the ministry last year to change medical certificates so they included a "red flag" for case managers to contact the doctor in an attempt to prevent "doctor-bullying".

Mr Brooking said doctors and case managers needed to take more responsibility when placing someone suffering drug and alcohol abuse on to a benefit.

"If doctors are willing to write a medical certificate for Work and Income purposes saying that a particular client is sick because of an alcohol or drug problem, then it's incumbent either on that doctor or on that person's case worker to ensure that that person attends a drug and alcohol treatment programme," he said.

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