What happens at the end of 400 weeks?

[marvinmartian]

Georgia has a 400 week limit on liability for work comp. I'm at MMI with a 28% BAW rating. If I don't settle at mediation and work comp continues to have to pay, what happens at the end of that 400 weeks (which is still almost 5 more years of them paying for my weekly checks and all my medical)?

Obviously, rather than settling for the 75K the lawyer is talking about with closing medical and the lawyer getting her cut, I'd be better off just letting work comp continue to pay me my weekly check and continue to pay my medical for another 5 years, but I'm reading everywhere where some people have been fighting for settlements for 10-15 years, which is much longer than the 400 week limit here. How is that?

My weekly checks are more than what I would draw on SSDI and the biggest advantage to SSDI is having insurance coverage for other illnesses of course. Can I have SSDI AND continue to get work comp? That way SSDI would pay for medical for other illnesses and work comp pay for my back and pay the higher weekly check?

[inpain247]

Yes you can collect both, but only up to 80% of what you made before you got hurt. Dont wait to apply for SSDI you are loosing money by waiting.

[WinggedEagle]

MM, absolutely SSDI will pay what is refered to as an off set. It is up to the difference of 80% of your average weekly wage and what WC is paying. Also you have to rememeber that Medicare starts up 24 months AFTER you are found to be disabled. You need to get that SSDI application started NOW to protect that benefit. The sooner you do this the better off you will be. If your attorney would have had YOUR BEST INTERESTS in mind she would have told you to file this when you were first injued and you would already be medicare eligible.

Your attorney also knows that when you settle WC will have to do a Medicare Set Aside to pay for the medical treatement in relation to your WC injury. This is required when you have filed or can be expected to file for SSDI within 30 months of the time of the settlement. Medicare has finally caught on to the underhanded tricks of the profiteering WC IC's and have put a stop to them shifting the medical care bills into to SS system. The only way around the MSA is to get lifetime open medical within the WC settlement. If she is any kind of an attorney at all, given the extent of your injuries, she would have already made this a part of any settlement talks with the IC. Also make sure when you do get to the point of actually setteling that the Utica Mohaw or Hartman language is a part of the settlement. This is how SS will be ablt to spread your WC money over a period of time in order to continue some if not all of your SSDI benefits.

You might just be ahead of it all to dissolve your agreement with your current attorney and hire someone that is working for you and what is in your best interest. Not one that is out for a quick buck and like you have said, setting back in her plush office and forgetting your name the following day.

Please do yourself a favor and get that SSDI application in. You can do it on line, over the phone, or in person. Once you start the application that is the date they will use for your case. The longer you put it off the longer it will take to get those benefits going. You are loosing out every day you delay.

http://www.ssa.gov/

WE