North Carolina Workers Compensation Reform Bill to Destroy Your Rights

NC Lawmakers Poised to Destroy Your Rights and Line the Pockets of Insurance Companies

Joe Miller, Esq.

Every citizen and worker in North Carolina should be totally outraged about new proposed Workers Compensation Reform Legislation that is scheduled to be proposed soon.

 The Republicans, now in control of both houses of the State Legislature, have a unique opportunity to advance the agenda that they always tout as the mainstays of their economic Platform-Lower taxes, less government involvement in people's lives,  fostering  and encouraging private enterprise, reducing the deficit, etc. 

These all certainly sound like admirable and reasonable goals to most people, including myself.

But their attack on injured workers by the sponsorship of the upcoming Workers Compensation Reform bill advances none of their supposed agenda.

Instead, they seek to pass a bill that will literally pull the guts out of the benefits due to injured workers in North Carolina, and ultimately shift the cost of caring for permanently injured workers AWAY from the private sector, and onto YOU, the taxpayer, ultimately doing nothing more than stuffing the pockets of the big insurance companies, some of their biggest supporters,  with untold mountains of cash.

What they are trying to do is nothing less than pure, unadulterated cronyism-" good-old boy" pay-backs to the fat cat insurance companies and their special interest lobbies, for helping them get elected to office.

So, you ask, what could be so terrible about the reform they are proposing?

Listen to this. If this proposal becomes law---

This is what will happen to you or someone you love if you are hurt at work -

Limited Doctors or referrals. Imagine you or a loved one are seriously hurt on the job and cannot work. This pending bill would turn the current system on its head by giving the insurance company complete control over your medical treatment. First, they would get to choose your treating  doctor (and while you could change treating physicians once in the case, your "choice" would be limited to choosing from one of a group of three or more doctors chosen by the insurance company).

Then, your doctor will have to get prior approval from the insurance company for every single referral and recommendation.

No privacy or confidentiality. And, to make matters worse, the insurance company and defense attorney will be able to talk to your doctor physician without your lawyer's prior knowledge or consent.

Automatic cutoff of benefits. On top of that, the current version of the bill will allow the insurance company to stop your total disability benefits on the grounds you "failed to cooperate" with medical treatment-- even if you haven't been previously been ordered to comply with medical treatment by the Industrial Commission.

 And who gets to decide whether you "failed to cooperate"?

You guessed it, the same insurance company that told you about your appointment for the first time, one hour before you were supposed to be at the doctor's office. Didn't you get their letter? You are not cooperating! Benefits over!!!

Of course, that fact that the insurance company is saving money by deciding to stop paying you benefits has nothing to do with their policies. Right?

Cutoff for Permanently Disabled Workers at 500 Weeks. Suppose you or a loved one will tragically never work again because of the severe injuries suffered on the job. They will have to be supported by the insurance company for the remainder of their life. And even under the current law, the benefits never increase.

Under the proposed bill, if you are permanently and totally disabled, the current draft of the bill artificially and arbitrarily caps your benefits at 500 weeks or about 9 years, (with only a few exceptions for very seriously injured workers such as quadriplegics).

So even if you have a lifetime disability, preventing you from ever going back to work, you will be forced to eventually rely on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, paid for by, that's right, you and me, the taxpayer!!!

Imagine a 20or 30-year-old permanently disabled worker. At age 29 or 39, benefits will run out under this proposed law, forcing them and their family to rely on government handouts, social security, Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, and welfare for the remainder of their lives. They will be utterly unable to support any family.

Is this what NC Taxpayers need more of? More disabled people added to the government dole?

How does this support the Republicans' platform of reduced deficits and less government? It actually does the opposite.

To sum up, if this bill becomes law it will:

1. Take away an injured workers' right to choose their own physician, and take away their right to ask the Industrial Commission to approve a treating physician of their own choice;

2. Take away all of their medical privacy rights by allowing the insurance company (and the insurance company's attorney) to talk to the employee's doctors without their prior knowledge or consent;

3. Let the insurance company cut off their compensation based on the claim that they aren't cooperating with medical treatment;

4. Artificially cut off their compensation after 500 weeks without regard to whether they have wage-earning capacity; and

5. Require injured workers to take a job that pays a lot less than they were making when they got hurt. 

All of this Equals---Higher taxes, more deficits, bigger government!

The bottom line here is that without adequate workers' compensation coverage, injured workers are forced to find other ways to make up the shortfall in income and healthcare coverage. This burdens not only the unemployment benefits, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid but also employer-sponsored health insurance programs. As any business owner knows, increased usage causes group health insurance rates to go up, effectively negating any savings realized from declining workers' compensation insurance premiums.

And folks, do you really think that if these "reforms" are passed that the insurance companies will pass along their savings--their newfound wealth gained from the millions they will save by gutting these benefits---will they pass them on to businesses, including small business owners, in the form of lower premiums?

Give me a break!!!

Safety at Stake. If workers' compensation reform, as proposed by the N.C. Chamber, passes, we will be taking a step back in time to an era when worker rights and worker safety were not a priority. This is a matter of public responsibility, not simply economics. And when considered in context of other costs, the promised economic benefits and gains from workers' compensation reform don't exist.

If it ain't broke....  Among the reasons that North Carolina's workers' compensation system has worked so well for so many years is that it's efficient and well managed by the N.C. Industrial Commission. It also is structured to provide good benefits to injured workers at a low cost to employers and insurers.

The Insurance Company lobbies are hard at work preparing to tear apart this system so they can line the pockets of these companies with all the combined years of benefits they will no longer have to pay.

Make no mistake---This has absolutely nothing to do with helping you, helping North Carolina, or saving anyone a penny of money, other than these greedy insurance companies.

The Workers Compensation Research Institute is such an example. According to the North Carolina Association of Justice, "WCRI is funded by insurance companies and big corporations, and routinely issues reports that support 'reforms' that will increase their contributors' profits."

In its latest report, WCRI claims the average payment per claim for injured workers in North Carolina is higher than in 15 other major states. That is misleading for a simple reason: in North Carolina, unlike other states, workers' compensation doesn't cover many injuries sustained in the normal work routine.  North Carolina has fewer claims, and they are for more severe injuries.  Naturally, our average payment per claim is higher.

Insurance Companies seeking Government Subsidies. Think of it this way. What the insurance companies are doing is to try to shift the cost and responsibility of paying for workers' injuries to the taxpayer. "WCRI's report is an unfortunate example of insurance companies and corporations seeking government subsidies by shifting their expenses to taxpayers," said NCAJ CEO Dick Taylor.

The fair measure of workers' compensation costs in North Carolina is straightforward: Are employers' costs for workers' compensation insurance out of line with other states?

They aren't.  The cost of workers' compensation insurance in North Carolina is, and has been for years, at or near the national average. For example, four months ago a study by the highly regarded Oregon State Department of Consumer and Business Services reported that North Carolina ranks twenty-third in the nation in the average cost to employers of workers' compensation insurance.

We do even better in comparison with the states in WCRI's study.  Eight ( California, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin) of the sixteen states in the WCRI report have higher costs to employers than North Carolina, and one ( Michigan) has identical costs. Each of these states, according to WCRI, pays lower benefits to its injured workers.  

In other words, in contrast to the other WCRI states, North Carolina delivers good benefits to injured workers, at low cost to employers.

Please urge your representatives not to shift the burden or caring for disabled workers from the wealthy, prosperous insurance industry to N.C Citizens---to leave it alone.

If you are conservative, you need to tell your representatives, that this is NOT IN LINE with conservative principles of reducing the deficit and reducing our reliance on government. You DID NOT put these folks in office to serve the Insurance Company special interest groups.

Because remember-injured workers are not some special interest group. Injuries on the job can happen to anyone-accidents make no distinction between political parties!!!

The next seriously injured worker in North Carolina could be you, someone in your family, or someone close to you. 

PLEASE PUT A STOP TO THIS NOW. DON'T LET THE INSURANCE COMPANIES LINE THEIR COFFERS AT YOUR EXPENSE AND THE EXPENSE OF YOUR LOVED ONES!!!

CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE IMMEDIATELY AND URGE THEM TO VOTE AGAINST ANY GUTTING OF NORTH CAROLINA WORKERS COMPENSATION.

Please click on this link for information to contact your representative immediately. Time is running out!!! :

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/GIS/RandR07/Representation.html

If you have suffered a work accident, contact Accidental Injury Advocates Ltd. in Elizabeth City, where attorney Joseph Miller, Esq has been representing injured North Carolina workers for over 20 years. Call us toll-free 888-694-7994 or send us an e-mail for a FREE, no commitment discussion of your case.