So, the Governor has scored a big, bi-partisan political victory with the passage of propositions 57 and 58 in last Tuesday's election. Now he is turning his focus to "true" workers' compensation reform.
Initiatives have been drafted, signatures are ready to be gathered. The question is, what will "true" reform mean for injured workers? Will they lose their right to choose their treating doctor?...
Check out this article (link unavailable) to see how injured workers suffer under the current system. If any one of a number of reforms under consideration are passed the suffering won't stop. Workers will not be able to choose their treating doctor. And after suffering serious work injuries, they will end up with little compensation.
State Senator Charles Poochigan explains his proposal here>>> (link unavailable) (link unavailable)http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/8055203.htm (link unavailable)
Tim Russert interviewed Gov. Schwarzenegger on NBC's Meet the Press this Sunday. I couldn't tell if Russert was giving Gov. Arnold a pass, but the questions didn't seem too tough.
Two things I noticed. There was no mention of California's Workers' Compensation system, unless the governor's comments about bringing jobs back to California count. The second thing I noticed was Gov. Arnold's discussion about...
"Christensen said his business has had minimal workers' compensation claims. He blames the skyrocketing costs on fraud and abuse relating to workers' comp, including lawyers encouraging employees to deceitfully file disability claims as workers' compensation claims, thus allowing the lawyers maximum involvement in the...
A vote on the Governor's reform bill has been delayed. It was likely to that it would have been voted down. Behind the scenes talks are taking place. Garamendi is urging compromise. Will it happen?
Quoting Daniel Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee (link unavailable):
"Among the possible fixes: Eliminate permanent disability payments for injuries that cannot be objectively measured (that's Schwarzenegger's proposal). Or base such payments only on the documented diminished ability to work. Or drop the dueling doctors and go straight to a neutral third party."
In other words cut down the award that an injured worker receives...
From a February 11 News Release: (archived) "SACRAMENTO, CA – Injured workers’ advocates today renewed their call for workers’ compensation insurance rate regulation, and called Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi’s proposed changes “incomplete” for failing to include caps on rates, and “flawed” for sentencing injured workers to live in pain, without adequate treatment. “After injured workers’ benefits were cut by more than $5 billion last...
The Governator says that the problems with the Workers' Compensation system in California can be traced to "unscrupulous" lawyers, among others.
Quoting Gov. Arnold's campaign site (link unavailable):
"The only people who are sure to benefit from this costly broken system are the unscrupulous medical providers, lawyers and un-entitled claimants who have learned to game the system at the expense of California's employees and...
