Summer injuries cost ACC billions in the last five years

Report details total insured losses

Summer injuries cost ACC billions in the last five years

Insurance News

By Krizzel Canlas

Summer injuries for the past five years have cost the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) $3.4 billion, it has been revealed.

And those costs are rising by about $50 million each summer, NZ Herald reports. Over the last five summers, sprains and broken bones were the most common types of injuries suffered by ACC claimants.

A total of 122,475 people reportedly suffered injuries from falls in summer 2017, costing more than $100 million. Last summer, there were 525 reported cases of people injuring themselves around the barbie, with claim costs totalling $482,219. Insect bites and sting related claims hit nearly $1 million, while sunburn cases totalled $6,706 in treatment costs. Additionally, ACC received almost 4,000 injuries around beaches, rivers and lakes last summer at a cost of more than $2 million.

“During the summer holidays people tend to relax and change their regular routines and - while some might say that’s how accidents happen - the truth is that most injuries are preventable,” ACC head of injury prevention Isaac Carlson told the publication.

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