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FRom October 6, 2005
Workers’ Comp Reform in California: Gone Too Far?

Filed Under: Economy, California, Law, Sacramento, Health Care, Author: John Wilson

http://www.californiaconservative.org/?p=1094

The workers’ compensation in California is a mess, and that is hardly news. However, this time it is not because of runaway medical costs and insurance premiums. This time it is because injured workers are being grossly mistreated by the system as a result of the recent reforms.

I do not believe for a moment that was the aim of the reforms. The system was spinning wildly out of control two years ago. It was fairly described as a crisis. The cost of the system was a major contributor to businesses fleeing the state (in addition to a lot of other looney stuff that passes for policy in California). Something had to be done.

Something was done.

The games played by some medical providers, conspicuously the chiropractors, operators of diagnostic facilities (MRIs etc), run away pricing at surgical centers, never ending treatment, limitless physical therapy and the like were properly addressed. Bringing reason and uniformity to permanent disability evaluations via the AMA Guidelines was made law. Treatment guidelines were adopted. The costs of the workers’ compensation have dropped dramatically.

But in doing these things a large measure of over-reaching was indulged in. The injured worker is paying the price. And whether one is conservative or liberal, that simply is not right. What is going on now shocks the conscience.

Let me begin by saying that I am no whining liberal. My bona fides as a conservative are beyond question. I spent twentyfive years in the defense of insurance companies with a heavy emphasis in workers’ compensation. I have worked litigation in nearly twenty states. I know how this business works and how it can and should work.

I am a lifelong Republican and activist. I am a contributor to two major conservative blogs including this one. I suport this president and the governor of California in most things. I am appalled by the political excesses of the present day Left and am no fan of Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi and their ilk.

Having said that, in the last year I have begun representing applicants (injured workers) in my semi-retirement. I arrived in this area of practice just in time for the California reforms to take effect. (Timing never has been my long suit.) What I have seen depresses me.

What happened to get us here?

What is going on?

What can people of goodwill do to right the wrongs?

I will address these questions in subsequent posts.

I would like to get this discussion going on the conservative side of the aisle. I fear that those on the Left will misinterpret what I am trying to say and do. They have developed a nasty habit of opposing anything that comes from the Right even when it is clearly something for the common good. I fear folks on the Right will see that expression of this concern is somehow going “squishy.”

At the same time I believe people of goodwill can come together and do what is needed. The reforms have brought the pendulum as far to one side as it was to the other a few short years ago. It is time to find the middle.