illness Archives - Workers' Compensation Watch

This blog post is the next in the series that examines the basics of workers’ compensation.

The first, and perhaps most important, workers’ compensation benefit is the medical benefit. This is a workers’ compensation benefit that includes payment of all treatment for a work injury. The treatment can be as small as stitches from a cut finger all the way to complex spine surgery. Regardless, the treatment and medical care should be covered 100 percent by the employer or workers’ compensation insurance company. There is neither co-payment nor deductible due for the treatment for the work injury. This medical coverage for work injuries can potentially last for life, depending on the injury and circumstances.

Not only is all treatment, like surgery, covered for work injuries, but so are other methods of rehabilitation: like physical therapy and medication. In other words, there should not be any co-payments for physical therapy, prescription medication, or other medical devices. Further, the mileage traveling to and from the treatment (or even to the pharmacy) should be reimbursed. This year that rate is 57.5 cents per mile.

These tips below are important to ensure that all of your medical bills and prescriptions for your work injury continue to be properly paid in full.

When you go to your doctor for treatment, make sure to inform your medical provider that you are seeing them for a work-related injury or illness, and ask them to send the bills to your employer. Also, make sure to thoroughly explain to your medical provider how you were injured or how you became ill. Give details about how the accident or work activities injured you or made you sick. Finally, inform the medical provider everything about your injury or illness: where you hurt, how the pain feels, your ability to function at home and work, etc. If your doctor wants you to avoid certain activities in order to promote healing, be sure to get a written copy of those restrictions from your doctor.

Look for information about choosing a physician (physician choice) to treat a work injury in an upcoming blog post in the workers’ compensation basics series.

Read the previous blog posts in the series by clicking on these links:

The U.S. loses more GDP to poor health than Sweden’s total GDP

Today’s post comes from guest author Nathan Reckman from Paul McAndrew Law Firm in Iowa. It looks like the flu season has come early and with a vengeance this year. This appears to be the case both nationwide and in our part of the Great Plains. A really impressive graphic in the “recently reported” link that Mr. Reckman highlights below shows that 39% of U.S. GDP is affected due to lost productivity! In this flu season, the article shows how important it is for all employers to provide sick days and also invest in the health of their employees. Because healthy workers are more productive, and the post below shows that the return on investment is worth it!

The Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI), a nonprofit health and productivity research organization for businesses, recently reported that poor health costs the U.S. economy $576 billion per year. Of this amount:

$227 billion is lost due to sick days or reduced productivity due to illness,
$232 billion is spent by employers on medical and pharmacy treatments, and
$117 billion is spent on workers’ compensation and short- or long-term disability wage replacement.

To give you a sense of the scale of this loss, it is larger than the entire gross domestic product (GDP) of all but the top 20 countries. Our $576 billion loss dues to poor health costs would fall directly behind the GDP of Saudi Arabia (2011 GDP: $577.6 billion) and in front of the Swedes (2011 GDP: $538.2 billion). For comparison, the U.S.’s $15,090 billion GDP was the largest in the world, followed by China at $7,298 billion.

…for every $1 employers invest in improving their employees’ health and wellness they save $3…

Sean Nicholson, Ph.D., quoted in the IBI report, has stated that for every $1 employers invest in improving their employees’ health and wellness they save $3 (quite a good return on their investment!). As wisely pointed out by IBI’s President, Thomas Parry, Ph.D., this report puts employers on notice that their investment in workers’ health and wellness will benefit both the workers and their employers.

This report, in addition to pointing out the dual benefits posed by increased employer investment in their employees’ health and wellness, points out one of the important choices facing our country’s healthcare system.

Source for 2011 GDP information: CIA World Factbook

Workers' Compensation Watch

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Tag Archives: illness

Workers’ Compensation Basics: Understanding Medical Care and Treatment

Report: Poor Health Costs Cost U.S. $576 Billion Yearly

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