CA: Pass workers' comp reform

Bakersfield Californian ^ | 4/176/04 | Op/Ed

[NormsRevenge]

If California is to rehabilitate its atrocious business climate, the Legislature must pass a compromise workers' compensation reform bill today.

The measure is a legislative camel -- a flawed policy horse designed by committee -- but it puts significant reforms in place. That lays the groundwork for future legislation that can correct shortcomings that become evident later. If the compromise measure is not passed, there is a grave risk that nothing will be done. That is simply unacceptable.

"I gotta tell you, there's no question this is not a perfect bill," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles. "What it is is an attempt to reach a compromise on a workers' compensation system that is broken, a system that doesn't serve injured workers very well and a system that is costing a great deal of money, with premiums increasingly on the rise."

Premiums for the mandatory insurance employers must carry to insure workers injured on the job have doubled in the past four years -- and had been escalating before that. The rates are the highest in the nation.

Beyond not giving the best health care to injured workers, the rates have been blamed by business and many economists for slowing job creation and suppressing salary and benefits.

Actual claims paid have quadrupled in six years, but benefits to workers are among the worst in the nation.

Thus, almost nobody deeply involved with the system benefits as much as they should, other than lawyers who specialize in workers' compensation law and some doctors.

But by the same token, neither business nor labor has gotten all that it wanted. Nonetheless, as Nunez said, something is better than nothing.

If passed as drafted, the bill would:

* More strictly regulate what qualifies as a job-related injury and better gauge the degree to which pre-existing or off-the-job conditions contribute to a problem.

* Use standardized occupational health criteria to assess and treat injuries, and to determine when an employee is fit to return to work. California now allows individual judgments. Similarly, a key cost control is the use of standard American Medical Association guidelines on establishing permanent disability assessments made after the treatment phase if an employee cannot return to work.

* Allows businesses to set up a panel of doctors from which employees can choose a provider to assess and treat injuries. The employee can appeal decisions within the provider network and later appeal to an independent review panel. At present, an employer must go to a company's chosen physician for 30 days, after which he can choose his own physician.

* Employees could get an almost immediate $10,000 in treatment even before a final benefit determination is made.

* Labor lost a key desire to see premiums regulated. However, state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi said his office will monitor rates to ensure they reflect reductions in costs resulting from the new legislation with an eye to potential rate regulation later.

If the bill passes with a two-thirds majority, the measure will go into effect immediately. Otherwise, implementation will take effect next year. If it is not passed, the matter will go on the November ballot as an initiative, a process that almost guarantees distorted arguments and even greater legal flaws than the legislation may have.

[NormsRevenge]

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[NormsRevenge]

[novacation]

And when are employers going to get rate reductions? Never!A dog and pony show at best.