For one-off compensation and various benefits for those who suffer permanent injury. Q: What constitutes an "accident"? Any illness or injury caused by a sudden event. Some cases are uncontroversial: those who have been assaulted, involved in a car accident, fallen over, self-harmed, injured by any external force, and sudden illnesses that cannot be predicted. ACC will usually accept these cases straight away, without seeking a doctor's professional opinion. Some cases may be related to past medical history, for example, if someone who previously had high blood pressure suffered a heart attack or stroke in New Zealand, there is controversy over whether this counts as an "accident". ACC will usually seek a doctor's opinion and then make a decision on whether to pay compensation. However, in these cases, doctors usually side with the patient and advise ACC to pay compensation. Unlike general commercial insurance companies, ACC can be "free" and automatically joined. The biggest difference between ACC and general commercial insurance companies is that you don't have to join ACC insurance before an accident happens. As long as you are a natural person in New Zealand, you are automatically insured ?
New Zealand Q&A