Worker Comp Insurance Cost Shifting Study. Leigh 2012

To finish today's marathon session I want to share this 2012 Study by Paul Leigh and James Marcin from UC Davis in California.  A study that revealed massive worker compensation insurance cost shifting.  Please think about it.  None of that was done in the interest of better patient care, it was all about making the system churn out more corporate profits.  Why do we put up with it?  Before complaining about the costs of Amendment 69, think about how much your health insurance cost is going to increase.  How much will your health care improve? 

Shouldn't our health care dollars go to providing our health care?  

Vote YES on ColoradoCare and Amendment 69.

{ hat tip to Dr. Tom Horiagon for sharing this and the previous Department of Labor 2016 study that provided further supporting evidence for these complaints and the need for substantive health care reform. } 

Of all the posts I've put up today, may I recommend 
"Passing Amendment 69 - Why the Fear?  Embrace the Challenge!" 

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Workers' compensation benefits and shifting costs for occupational injury and illness.

Leigh JP, Marcin JP.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22446573

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Whereas national prevalence estimates for workers' compensation benefits are available, incidence estimates are not. Moreover, few studies address which groups in the economy pay for occupational injury and illness when workers' compensation does not.

METHODS:

Data on numbers of cases and costs per case were drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and National Council on Compensation Insurance data sets. Costs not covered by workers' compensation were estimated for private and public entities.

RESULTS:

Total benefits in 2007 were estimated to be $51.7 billion, with $29.8 billion for medical benefits and $21.9 billion for indemnity benefits. For medical costs not covered by workers' compensation, other (non-workers' compensation) insurance covered $14.22 billion, Medicare covered $7.16 billion, and Medicaid covered $5.47 billion.

CONCLUSION:

Incidence estimates of national benefits for workers' compensation were generated by combining existing published data. Costs were shifted to workers and their families, non-workers' compensation insurance carriers, and governments.

Source:  J Occup Environ Med. 2012 Apr;54(4):445-50. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0b013e3182451e54.

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UC Davis Health System Newsroom | May 25, 2012

Most occupational injury and illness costs are paid by the government and private payers rather than workers' compensation insurance, UC Davis study shows

Paul Leigh‚ Sacramento, California |

http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/publish/news/newsroom/6621

Executive Summary Labor Department Workers Comp Report 2016

This is a follow up to the previous post.  Here is the full text of the reports Executive Statement.  It belongs here because it underscores the need for substantive change that will not come about from the same corporate interests that have created this problem to begin with.  ColoradoCare, Amendment 69 provides a solid framework upon which to build a patient responsive Colorado workers comp and health care system.  Vote Yes on Amendment 69.

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U.S. Labor Department Workers Comp Report 2016

https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/3121896-Labor-Department-Workers-Comp-Report-2016.html

DOES THE  WORKERS COMPENSATION SYSTEM FULFILL ITS OBLIGATIONS TO INJURED 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

State-based workers’ compensation programs provide critical support to workers who are injured or made sick by their jobs. These programs are a key component of the country’s social benefit structure and of occupational safety policy, and the only major component of the social safety net with no federal oversight or minimum national standards. This Report provides an introduction to these programs, but it also sounds an alarm: working people are at great risk of falling into poverty as a result of workplace injuries and the failure of state workers’ compensation systems to provide them with adequate benefits.

Despite the sizable cost of workers’ compensation, only a small portion of the overall costs of occupational injury and illness is borne by employers. Costs are instead shifted away from employers, often to workers, their families and communities. 

Coloradans for Coloradan need YES on Amendment 69

{edited for typos, Thursday 6:45pm}

The main reason opponents of Amendment 69, such as ColoradansForColoradans.Com have to say Vote No is that it will be a challenging audacious undertaking that will take much effort over the next couple years to succeed.  

That's a scary thing.  We fear change.  We fear challenges.  
What the corporate funded ColoradansForColoradans.Com doesn't tell you is why so many Coloradans want to embrace that challenge of rebuilding our health care system.  

Our current heath care system is increasingly run by corporations whose number one duty above all else is to provide profits for share holders and earning bonuses for executives.  That is it!  Everything else is secondary to that "fiduciary responsibility."  When Pinnacol's CEO and president goes around raving about how great Colorado's worker comp system is, it's because it's a great profit machine!

Why not ask around among your friends and relatives, find out who's been injured on the job, ask them about how well the process served them.  What about the enormous  insurance premium increases in line for next year?  

ColoradoCare is all about caregivers who got sick of seeing 30 to 40% of their time and talent going to administrative paperwork, much of it dedicated to rejecting claims.  They want to treat patients - not serve corporate overlords and their endless demands for paperwork.  They got tired of seeing the consequences of corporate's amoral attitude towards people in need.

WE WANT 100% OF OUR HEALTH CARE PAYMENTS GOING TO PROVIDING A HEALTHY COLORADO HEALTH CARE SYSTEM AND WORKERS COMP SYSTEM,
rather than frivolous profits for a few.

That for me is what ColoradoCare and Amendment 69 is all about.

For more evidence to support my opinions, please read the following.

(hat tip to Tom Horiagon MD)

U.S. Labor Department: 

States Are Failing Injured Workers

A new Department of Labor report says cuts to state workers’ comp systems have left injured workers with inadequate benefits and raises the specter of federal oversight. The findings echo those of a ProPublica and NPR investigation last year.

by Michael Grabell

ProPublica, Oct. 5, 2016, 6:01 a.m.

https://www.propublica.org/article/us-labor-department-states-are-failing-injured-workers

Colorado Open Records Act pries into Pinnacol Assurance’s dirty laundry

 and they don't like what they found.  Not much to add to this one, it speaks volumes by itself.

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Judge orders Pinnacol to comply with CORA on golf trip

Joseph Boven  |  August 20, 2010

http://www.coloradoindependent.com/59990/judge-orders-pinnacol-to-comply-with-cora-on-golf-trip

After suing KMGH Channel 7 to block a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) inquiry into expenses related to an “extravagant” golf trip to Pebble Beach, Calif., Pinnacol Assurance was told Thursday by a Denver District Court judge that the state workers’ compensation giant should adhere to the same CORA requirements as any other public entity.

“This is the right decision under the law and the right decision for the people of Colorado,” said Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, who testified before the court Thursday. “If we learned anything over the past year, it is that Pinnacol needs to answer to injured workers, to the businesses it serves, and to taxpayers about how it does business, just like any governmental agency. I’m glad the courts agreed.”

Carroll serves on the Legislative Audit Committee that released Pinnacol’s financial and performance audit in June. That report found numerous faults with Pinnacol’s procedures and practices.

Al Tompkins explains how NPR and ProPublica exposed unequal workers’ comp system

Al Tompkins at poynter.org tells us about the background story to Michael Grabell's "Insult to Injury" series which looks into how certain self-interests have stealthily been eroding state workers comp programs.  Always seeming to put the workers interests last and executive incentives first.  It's a frightening trend that will continue without an engaged public that stands up and says enough is enough.  We deserve fair and available health care!  Vote Yes on Amendment 69.

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How NPR and ProPublica exposed America’s unequal workers’ compensation system

By Al Tompkins • April 12, 2016 Last updated by Kristen Hare April 12, 2016

http://www.poynter.org/2016/how-npr-and-propublica-exposed-americas-unequal-workers-compensation-system/405902/

Michael Grabell's "Insult to Injury" workers comp investigation

Michael Grabell has written an impressive collection of articles looking at today's Workers Comp realities.  He uncovers plenty of information to help us put Pinnacol Assurance's CEO Phil Kalin's misleading Amendment 69 articles into a more realistic light.

Become familiar with the following and you too will be wondering: Why do we allow them to get away with it?  Hopeful this information will help some understand why it's very important for you and your friends to get out and vote this election.  

Help create a Colorado health care system responsive to the people's needs rather than to corporate bonus incentive packages.  Vote Yes on Amendment 69!

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Insult to Injury

America’s vanishing worker protections.

Investigations by ProPublica Journalism in the Public Interest

List of articles authored and co-authored by Michael Grabell.

https://www.propublica.org/series/workers-compensation

The Demolition of Workers’ Comp

by Michael Grabell, ProPublica, and Howard Berkes, NPR, March 4, 2015

Over the past decade, states have slashed workers’ compensation benefits, denying injured workers help when they need it most and shifting the costs of workplace accidents to taxpayers. More »

Workers' Compensation Reforms by State

by Yue Qiu and Michael Grabell, ProPublica, March 4, 2015

In all, 33 states have passed laws that reduce benefits, create hurdles to getting medical care or make it more difficult to qualify for workers’ comp. Explore the interactive »

Employers Complain of Rising Premiums, But Workers’ Comp Is at 25-Year Low

by Sisi Wei and Michael Grabell, ProPublica, March 4, 2015

Despite the drumbeat of complaints about costs, employers are paying the lowest rates for workers’ compensation insurance than at any time in the past 25 years, even as the costs of health care have increased dramatically. More »

Insurance Information Institute Challenges Our Workers’ Comp Investigation. We Respond

by Michael Grabell, ProPublica, and Howard Berkes, NPR 

March 18, 2015

Insurance Information Institute challenges ProPublica/NPR’s workers’ comp investigation. Here's our response.

https://www.propublica.org/article/insurance-information-institute-challenges-our-workers-comp-investigation/