Gathering WC Issues....

[Still in Limbo]

Red to answer your question to me, The i/c has the Funds to Buy what and who the need in the State and Federal Level to obtain Laws that favor the Employer, thus making it harder on the i/w. It's a well proven fact that this is rampant in Gov't and it needs to be controlled someway somehow. The i/w is never going to have the funds to go head-to-head and buy our own Congressmen and Senators, and that's where the problem lies. As long as this is allowed to happen, the i/c is going to have free reign to do as they Please!!

[red1030]

I do believe that what you say is true Limbo, however, I also believe that we can not stop the process of what happens in government. That is way over our heads. So my question to you is..what is it we can have an impact on by making the American Public aware? What small part of this can the IW take control off? MY answer to this is to focus on some immediate issues such as
1. Who regulates the W/C IC decisions?
2. Can the timeliness of processing healthcare claim be increased through more regulation.
3. Can the laws be changed to put the ownership of fraud on the IC to take the IW to court versus the other way around for everyone.

Still you are so right...we are never going to have the funds to go head to head and buy our own congressmen...we as it sits now, is never going to have the funds to hire someone to lobby for the IW, which is why we start simple and build from there. THe one think that I remember being told by Megan's mother (Megan's law that now states that sex offenders must register from city to city) is that you start with the little and you build big. In this situation is what easy to get the publics attention because of the nature of the crime. The American Public may not even want to know or to believe that they are at such as risk as you have experienced...so that would say to me, we even have to focus smaller yet. Then buid with time. As in everything it is one day, one step at a time. We decide on one issue and start the ball rolling on that ...and lets see where it takes us. Carol

[queenbee]

I am sick of dealing with the ic who make me feel like a thief and liar, i am sick of dealing with an attorney who doesn't care, i am sick of not being treated in a timely manner. Mostly i am sick of being in pain and begging them to help. Nine months since i was injured and 4 months of it waiting around for permisiion to be treated. i am afraid my shoulder and neck is getting worse because of lack of action. they have no sense of urgency to treat our injuries. everyone is upset because those poor dogs in the news as am I--- but what about the inhumane treatment we are enduring. we need publicity we need people to be able to get the fire lit under workmans comp.
There should be a tie into ssdi that an injured worker gets information as soon as the file a claim. i have an attorney and the only way i knew about this was reading what everyone had posted. Thank god for the forum. i also may have a case for eeoc but i am to exhauseted dealing with what is on my plat now. Maybe that is what they want - just give up.
I KNOW I AM RANTING BUT IT HAS BEEN ONE LONG HORRIBLE WEEK ---SORRY

[Tuffy]

Red, Have you noticed that most IWs no matter what state they are from almost always have the same complaints with the WC system. And many do not have or are offered any information untill they find or stumbble onto this site. We tell them to learn all they can about there states WC rules etc, but in alot of cases they still have to ask questions as the rules are not written so the IW can understand them and the states do not do a very good way of explaining, uunless you are an attorney.

Queenbee, Sorry you have had such a hard week, We Care! Hope you are better soon.

[red1030]

I just dropped in for a minute. I am hearing all of you..and I feel that you are all saying about the same thing...just quickly...
1. Laws that regulate and control WC IC decisions and profit margins. These laws must also hold the IC accountable for these decisions that affect the IW negatively.
2. Laws that regulate the timeliness of healthcare and financial support. Which would also required penalties for poor compliance.
3. Laws that would require the IC to prove through court that an IW's claim is fraud versus the IW fighting thought the courts what is already paid for as their benefits as an IW.
4. Laws that would require the employees and IC to provide annual and ongoing education before and after about W/C and its purpose.

There is currently a law that mandates that the employers post what to do if you hurt yourself on the job. It gives you phone numbers and who to contact but that is about it. There is also a law that I think we would want to paralell for this is the law OSHA has now... stating that employers must provide annual inservicing about all the safety risk in their jobs. Each job would have different safety risk of course. We should try to look at something like this. The OSHA one is based on prevention, W/C would be based on process and benefit acknowledgement.

Also...I hope I have considered all your concerns. This is not the last line here adn I am not the one that is going to make these decisions all of you are. I am just trying to focus what I believe you are all saying through all the emotion and pain that I know you are having about this subject. Thank you for your help. This is about you and for you...so I hope you understand I have nothing to gain from trying to help with this, except to do something right for concern that is completely overlooked by our public and government. Carol
3.

[tweety00]

red yes true there is laws that SAy employers are to have things posted but when its only a misdemeaner and fines arent done or are so low .
It makes it NOT in the employers benifit to even tell employees about there rights when if they do .. it is cutting into the employers bottomline of keeping costs down ..
So if the fines were higher then the employers or i/c might not play games with the IW treatment
All ive ever heard was that employer complaining about there mods or how all the smallclaims have raised their i/c insurance .

[red1030]

Tweety ....I understand how you feel about the employer. I believe a number of you have mentioned the employer. I want to draw your attention to a few facts about the employer. We often forget that they loose when an employee is hurt in the same ways that the IW is hurt. Some, depending on size and overhead capita available, but they loose all the same. Some, especially the small businesses can loose their business that they have worked so hard for when an accident occurs. They are just as afraid as the IW is in this situation. I am thinking that this may not be sitting very well with some of you but I would like for you to hear me out on this. Then I want to hear from you as well. The only one who profits is the IC. You maybe asking how...they just increase the rates of a poor small businessman who maybe can't continue to operate his or her business any longer. Consider this, you all have mortage insurance I am sure. Someone is walking down your sidewalk in front of your home. There is a small raised area in the sidewalk because of a tree in the front yard. Now this person falls and injuries there knees and has to go to the hospital for repair. Who is responsible? According to the laws it is the owner of the home. That is one big reason everyone must carry home owners insurance. Now you have a claim on your insurance. Who pays for the claim, the insurance? Yes in the beginning, but through a review of your claims the insurance will raise your home owners rates to conver to some extent their loss. Is this fair? Isn't this why we have insurance so that if we have an auto or home accident it will be covered and not jeopardize our well being. Unfortunately that is not the case. So why be angry at the employer who is just trying to save their company. They should not lie or do anything like that, but can't you understand what they are up against just a little.

My point here is that the employer pays for an insurance that will cover you both financially and medically if you are injuried so why are they allowed to treat all of you like criminals? Why isn't this an automatic coverage and why does it have to bankrupt small business people. I can almost gauratee you that if you were to want laws that compromised the stability of the little business man (because any law that affects the big ones will affect the little ones also) this country will not hear you any more. Even in war we jeopardise the few for the many. Isn't this true. How many of you have lost sons in this war? There are some mothers out there that have...I have to go I will finish this later. Please comment. Carol

[dipweed23]

carol u r right. insurance companies are cash cows, that wont be milked. even your ttd payments are sitting in a hi yeild account, so they can collect interest on it.
They should be ashamed of themslves how they act.

[Dallas307]

Oh man- I am not sure you want me to touch this. But however- I copied this into word so I can further digest all of the documentation and decide if I should go there or not/ There are many things talked about here that are in the unknown catagory--so in the meantime- post on
Hope all of you are doing well

[red1030]

Dallas...I would really welcome any insight that you may have into this entire situation. I believe that we all need to come to some understanding of what is really going on. For instance, just today my husband got his report from his IME doctor saying that his cervical changes is DJD and that he has a shoulder strain and that all of it is pre-existing. Now I should be very angry however, one I expected it, and two this is just the way the IC's work because I feel there is nothing regulating their decision making process. None of our insurance companies are regulated. Most other businesses have some sort of regulations with penalites attached if they do not live up to the standards. Why don't insurance company's. Oh well..I am tired and this is getting old and worn out for one day. Carol (red)