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Lifetime Care - No-fault scheme for catastrophically injured |
The new scheme for victims of car accidents who suffer catastrophic injuries has recently been extended to include adults. The scheme provides benefits which were previously unattainable if the person had been at fault, or partially at fault, for their own injury. |
The Lifetime Care And Support Scheme became operative in October 2006 for children under 16, and was extended to adults in October 2007. It provides treatment and care for those catastrophically injured as a result of a motor car accident in NSW. There is no entitlement for anyone injured before those dates to access the scheme, which it is estimated will cover between 120 and 200 accident victims per year suffering serious spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries, multiple amputations, severe burns or legal blindness. |
Effectively, those eligible will have no choice but to be part of the scheme, even if they can prove someone else was at fault in the accident, as insurers can nominate an injured person for inclusion without their consent. |
This may mean that some accident victims will be adversely affected, because they may have been financially better off pursuing a claim for lump-sum compensation. Such victims will also be precluded from obtaining compensation for voluntary domestic assistance. The argument is that the scheme will cover all care needs on a paid basis, so no voluntary domestic assistance should be required. |
In reality, many families will choose to continue to provide some care on an unpaid basis, which could be seen as their subsidising the scheme. The scheme may be amenable to carers being paid, subject to suitable training, which could mean carers being formally employed and receiving work benefits, such as superannuation and cover for workers compensation. However, many families may not want a formal arrangement involving taxable income. |
The scheme has provision to modify existing property but none for funding the capital costs involved in purchasing a suitable house, car or computer equipment. |
Nothing in the new scheme will affect the rights of accident victims who can establish fault to recover general damages, loss of earnings or other items of lumpsum compensation that are not covered by the scheme. |
