Here We Go Again

So, our new Illinois governor wants to make further "reforms" in Workers Compensation in the Land of Lincoln. Alas, his approach appears to be pretty much confined to making injured workers get less when they are hurt. It's an approach that has been tried before, as in, the last time (four years ago) when Illinois enacted Workers Compensation "reform".

This time, Governor Rauner wants to change things so that workers are not eligible for Workers Comp if injured while traveling to and from work.  Ummm, governor, I don't actually think that is a major cause of current Illinois Workers Comp costs. Because right now, workers are not eligible for Workers Comp in Illinois if injured driving to or from work. Workers now are only covered by the act when driving to or from a client, as part of their work duties.

So what are the more serious proposals our governor is advocating? You know, the ones that aren't actually already in place?

Rauner wants to put the burden of proof onto workers that their injury stems from work, and that workplace exposure was the main cause of the injury. Now, mind you, a lot of injured workers already say that insurance companies screw them over, taking their sweet time paying medical bills and for lost wages. So just imagine how really hellish life will be for injured workers once the insurance companies can really dick them around (sorry, didn't mean to use a technical insurance term, but sometimes it must be done) and tell them that the worker has to prove that the back injury that's crippling them was caused mainly from work and not from, say, mowing the lawn or picking up their grandkids or that fall down the steps fifteen years ago. No potential for abuse there, governor.

Rauner also wants to cut back some more on what doctors and hospitals are paid. Which was already done four years ago, and didn't produce the rate-reduction nirvana proponents predicted.

That brings up an interesting point, one that Rauner doesn't talk about. For most employers, the cost of Workers Comp isn't really driven directly by the cost of claims---it's driven by the cost of insurance.

That's because most employers, save all but the largest, have to buy insurance for their Workers Comp liabilities. And we've rather completely de-regulated the cost of Workers Compensation insurance over the last twenty five years, and completely wrecked the ability of the Department of Insurance to enforce what rate protections are still in place.

I have pointed out to the Illinois legislature how some simple steps could serve to reduce Workers Compensation insurance costs for many Illinois employers. Once those ideas were presented, all that could be heard was the sound of crickets, and then the legislators returned to their script.

That noise you hear in the background? It's the sound made while grinding political axes. You have to listen hard, though, because it's hard to hear over the sound of groaning business people who have to pay their latest Workers Comp insurance bill, and the moans of injured workers who are trying to get those insurance companies to pay claims on a timely basis--if their injuries are even reported.

I know someone, a construction worker, who failed to report a serious hernia injury from his work out of fear his small employer would not take it well. He ended up using his regular health coverage instead, with deductibles and co-pays. It shouldn't be that way, but for people who have to work for a living, that is reality sometimes.

People who work for a living, and small businesses who have to scramble to pay sometimes outrageous Workers Comp insurance bills--those don't seem to be the kinds of folks Governor Rauner is very worried about. When you've made your fortune as a cutthroat financier, the worst you have to worry about is paper cuts. And the Workers Comp rates for financial services and office work are still very, very low. So I don't think he and his advisers have much in the way of a real appreciation for the realities that a lot of folks in Illinois face on a regular basis.

Realities like my client who saw his Workers Comp insurer write him a policy with an initial premium of $2,500.00, only to have the insurer later bill him for $3,000,000.00 (and file suit against him to try and get it.)

Or my client, the folks who operated a petting zoo, whose insurance company sought to re-classify them as a rodeo (with a resulting huge increase in premiums). Or all the construction companies facing being locked out of bidding on new projects because the insurance industry changed the formula for calculating experience modifiers, and suddenly their mods have jumped over 1.00 without there being any real change in their loss history.

Those weren't problems caused by workers with exaggerated claims, or doctors gouging the system--they were problems caused by an unregulated insurance industry.