The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), which studies workers’ compensation and other benefits systems, last August reported that in 2012: workers’ compensation benefits rose by 1.3 percent to $61.9 billion employer costs rose by 6.9 percent to $83.2 billion. The uptick, NASI said, was due to increased employment. “This growth in workers’ compensation spending…
Continue reading
Can a Virginia worker “double dip” while receiving Worker’s Compensation weekly wage loss benefits? “No” according to Reston and Herndon area workers comp lawyer Doug Landau. The injured worker who is getting a full weekly wage loss (“indemnity”) check, cannot also get a full permanency check at the same time. However, if an injured worker…
Continue reading
In order to qualify for weekly wage loss benefits beyond the Virginia 500-week limit, a worker must lose two arms, two legs, two eyes, etc. in the same workplace accident. If a Virginia worker loses her arm in an on-the-job accident, and then loses her other arm months later doing the same job for the…
Continue reading
It seems we were not the only ones to notice and comment on the recent NPR/ProPublica series on our nation’s workers’ comp system. Entitled “The Demolition of Workers’ Comp,” the NPR/ProPublica piece is an investigation into workers’ comp in the United States. It presents a scathing depiction of an inconsistent and difficult-to-navigate system once designed…
Continue reading
The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) is an insurance company-funded organization which, for years, has been reporting that doctors in the Maryland workers’ comp system were dispensing 40% of all workers’ comp prescriptions, and were capturing 55% of all dollars paid for these prescriptions. This, according to WCRI, was driving up costs in the workers’…
Continue reading