In WCRI conference in Boston recently, experts urged the workers’ compensation professionals and public policymakers to turn their attention to the needs of injured workers and think of themselves more as players in a broader safety net. The experts stressed the need for a more credible system for injured workers, including job security, employer funded pensions and health insurance. They also challenged the professionals and public policymakers to more clearly define the responsibilities they have to people who are not falling outside the workers’ compensation system, such as older workers with chronic illnesses, and long-term disabilities.

            The panel at the conference noticed that states raised the bar on compensability, requiring work to be a major or predominant contributing cause of an injury. It has become a real problem with the aging workforce, with the people who are working from home, with the recognition that many of the conditions that we thought would occur in the course and scope of the workplace actually are diseases of life. This current intense scrutiny of workers’ compensation may be related to the uncertainty over the traditional safety net tied to job security, health insurance and retirement benefits. The workers’ compensation system could also see even more scrutiny if changes to the Affordable Care Act leave more people uninsured.

            Another problem with the focus of the past few decades has been the absence of the worker perspective. Aging people are invisible to everyone who works in the workers’ compensation system. The number of people who get chronic, work-related illnesses from occupational exposure but never make workers’ compensation claims is significant. The conference panel also identified vulnerable workers including non-documented immigrants, temporary workers, workers in trades, and others that have contingent work relations as outsiders to the system. Studies showed that $12 billion in costs in Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) are from workers who worked but are no longer getting workers’ compensation benefits and are in disability at least to some extent because of their work-related condition.

            So who actually pays the system? Economist thinks that workers are the ones who ultimately pay the costs of the compensation system, and not employers. The workers’ compensation system’s bad rap in recent reports is partly because of this. Experts said, when thinking about costs, it is not enough to think about just the employer. It is important to also think about where the costs are being distributed, whether to social security, or the worker, or in communities, or to the general health care system.

            Ultimately, the panel urged, it is the employer that has to be willing to pay and able to pay what costs that social insurance system is. According to the conference, while federal regulation is unlikely and may not even be desirable, policymakers should acknowledge that there are inequities in the current state-based system and they don’t all revolve around the scheduled benefits to make a more credible and efficient workers’ compensation system.

            The Poirier Law Firm’s goal is to make sure that all of our injured workers promptly and efficiently, receive his/her necessary medical treatment. So if you or a family member have been hurt at work and have any issues with promptly receiving medical treatment, call Poirier Law today for help and for a free consultation. The Poirier Law Firm has represented injured workers for over 16 years. You deserve to have a zealous advocate in your corner!