IL: 2 Sides to Every Bill

Chicago, IL (WorkersCompensation.com) – There are two sides to every house bill.

Nicole Nelson, chief legal officer and head of human resources for Insureon; and Mark Denzler, vice president of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, feel very differently about two new workers’ compensation measures in Illinois.

Sharing their sentiments with WorkersCompensation.com, the insurance expert and vice president discuss the measures — one that would create the Workers’ Compensation Commission Operations Fund, a nonprofit and government oversighted company created to compel more competitive polices, and the other to mandate state-approved insurance rates for companies writing workers’ compensation policies.

HB 2622 would create a competitive fund initially sponsored by Rep. Laura Fine (D-Glenview) and Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston); a notion Nelson agrees with. To read more on HB 2622, click here for WorkersCompensation.com CEO Bob Wilson’s viewpoint.

“I think it is going to be very beneficial to the business. Workers’ compensation is required for all businesses and the consumer does not have much control over the price,” Nelson said of HB 2622. “Whereas these new nonprofit insurance companies the government is forming is going to sell the policies to the employers as well. It is just going to add a competitive advantage to the consumer.”

Denzler disagrees, citing bi-partisan play. “This is not reform, this is not going to move us forward, I would consider it more window dressing for Democrats trying to check a box before election.”

“Illinois (has the) 8^th highest cost of workers’ compensation in U.S. What business community and manufacturers need is real workers’ compensation reform. These are efforts by Democrats, trial lawyers and labor unions trying to deflect from the real problems in the workers’ compensation system,” Denzler said.

Backing her argument with data on workers’ compensation pricing trends in Illinois, Nelson said the two new bills will help pricing so it does not fluctuate. “This will help control it, make it more even keel and control the price to protect the consumers out there especially small businesses from any price inflations,” she said.

Denzler also disagrees here. “We are a competitive state and the creation of a state fund to compete with 325 companies is not going to solve the high cost of workers’ compensation in Illinois,” he said. 

Nelson said Insureon is “keeping our eye on this to see what is coming down the pipeline so we can have more knowledge for (the) customer and to be able to keep up with trends. We have to make sure to give all the options that we can so keeping up with these trends is very beneficial for us to make sure we are giving the best service we can.”

Denzler said HB 2525 is another attempt for Democrats to claim they are making changes. “I think it is a sham, I think they are fake reforms,” he said, adding legislators should be focusing on causation standard that codifies case law to a fault.  

“I can say what this bill doesn’t do. It doesn’t create a causation standard, it doesn’t reduce medical costs, it doesn’t strengthen use of AMA (American Medical Association) standards, high fee schedule among others. The main cost drivers in the system are not touched in the Democrat bill,” he said.

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