The government's Budget day announcement of $50 million extra for elective surgery was a farce as much of the money was needed for patients previously treated by ACC, Labour claims.
The $50m boost for elective surgery, announced by Health Minister Tony Ryall in May, was to be spread over four years.
But newly released Treasury papers show $40m of that - $10m a year - was needed to pay for operations which would previously have been covered by ACC. The corporation has recently been clamping down on what it funds, refusing to cover many injuries they consider age-related or pre-existing.
Labour MP Ruth Dyson said the government had "dumped" thousands of people off ACC's books and they now had to be treated by district health boards.
"It's clear that on Budget day, Minister of Health Tony Ryall attempted to deliberately mislead the public about the National government's investment in elective surgery," she said.
"Tony Ryall's claims about elective surgery are a farce, he has taken credit for providing increased numbers of elective procedures when really his government has simply been transferring patients from one government department to another.
"Taxpayers are now funding a-money-go-round as ACC move to dump patients from their books in order to save money, only for those same patients to end up being treated in public hospitals."
