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1. Predesignate your doctor
before you get injured. If you have group health insurance, like
Kaiser or Blue Cross, you can choose your doctor to treat your
injury. You must complete and submit a personal physician form
to you employer. Even if you have previously completed such a
form, do it again because the laws have changed. Your doctor
must agree to be predesignated.
2. Injured workers will
receive immediate medical treatment, up to a $10,000 cap, until
their workers' compensation claim is accepted or denied.
Previously, injured workers had to wait - sometimes up to 90
days - for their claim to be accepted prior to getting medical
care.
3. The most severely
disabled workers will receive seven additional weeks of benefits
for each percentage of disability rating over 70%. The least
severely disabled workers will receive one week less of benefits
for each percentage of disability rating below 15%.
4. Injured workers who
cannot return to work will get a 15% increase in their permanent
disability award. Injured workers who return to work will get
15% less in permanent disability benefits, provided that they
keep their jobs for at least a year. Once back at work, if you
lose your job through no fault of your own, you will once again
get your full permanent disability award.
5. Temporary disability
benefits will be limited to two years. Although the vast
majority of claims receive less than 2 years of TD benefits,
injured workers could previously receive up to 5 years of TD
benefits. Injured workers with specified injuries, like
amputations, chronic hepatitis or severe burns, will remain
subject to the 5-year cap.
6. Unions and their
employers can pursue alternative dispute resolution programs
(carve-outs) to create an integrated system of medical
treatment, also known as 24-hour care. Group health coverage and
medical treatment for injured workers would be seamless. They
can also negotiate to integrate temporary disability payments
and non-industrial disability payments to create a seamless
system of temporary wage replacement benefits without regard to
how or where the injury occurred. .
7. Employers will be
eligible for financial incentives to take injured workers back
to work. Worksites with bad accident records will be inspected
by insurance companies as an additional check for safer
workplaces.
8. Permanent disability
benefits will be apportioned between work and non-work related
causes. Injured workers will not get more than 100% disability
rating for repeated injuries to the same body part. Temporary
disability benefits and medical treatment will not be affected
by the new apportionment rules. A worker whose cumulative injury
is 30% caused by non-work related factors will receive only 70%
of his/her permanent disability award.
9. A draconian
anti-worker initiative, championed by Governor Schwarzenegger
and the Chamber of Commerce, will not be on the November, 2004
ballot. This legislative compromise takes away the risk of
losing the heart of our workers' comp system.
10. The big winners of
this compromise are profiteering insurance companies. Not only
did they and their brokers escape any form of regulation, but
they also exacted specific benefits in this legislation. We must
sustain our efforts to re-regulate workers' compensation
insurance companies or this crisis will never be solved.
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