Quote of the day
"The next major terrorist act may involve biological agents. Some covered workers will die, more will be made physically ill and many will suffer mental anguish ... Those with posttraumatic stress disorder will maybe be precluded from workers' comp awards because their state laws either forbid or discourage 'mental' claims."
Peter Rousmaniere, Vermont-based writer and columnist
Maryland Commissioner Asks to Be Secondary Receiver of Fremont
Maryland Insurance Commissioner Steven Orr asks a judge to appoint him a secondary receiver of California-based workers’ compensation insurer Fremont Indemnity Co., which has been in liquidation in California since 2003. Baltimore Business Journal
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Health Insurers Excluding Individual Applicants by Occupation
In order to keep premiums down, they say, health insurers in California will not sell individual insurance coverage to otherwise healthy and solvent people based solely on their job category, and state regulators have no authority to stop them. California Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) has proposed a bill that would extend coverage by creating a purchasing pool that would require participating plans to offer coverage to people with preexisting conditions or who are priced out of the market. By Lisa Girion, Los Angeles Times
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Opinion: Defending North Dakota’s Troubled WSI Agency
Current audits, which identified several operational areas of North Dakota’s Workforce Safety and Insurance agency that need improvement, have been used unfairly to vilify the entire organization, management and treatment of injured workers. Moreover, they have overshadowed the progress the organization has made since it was declared insolvent 10 years ago. By Dick Johnsen, Bismarck Tribune
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Commentary: Immigration Reform, Terrorism and Workers’ Comp
Democrats’ electoral and legislative ambitions could trigger the most sweeping increase in workers’ comp protections since the 1970s: a guest-worker program would give 7.5 million illegal workers full workers’ comp protections. Additionally, many do not understand how expansion of workers’ comp benefits sits like a time bomb within the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. By Peter Rousmaniere, Risk & Insurance
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Good News for Injured Ohio Workers
Ohio workers hurt on jobs they got through welfare could see their injury benefits substantially increased following a decision by new Ohio Attorney General Mark Dann, the first Democrat elected state attorney general since 1990, not to appeal a decision by the 10th Ohio District Court of Appeals. The court ruled that injured workers who had sued the state Bureau of Workers’ Compensation were not paid fairly. By Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Cleveland Plain Dealer
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Food Plant Worker Sues Employer in Illinois Plaintiffs’ Jurisdiction
A food plant worker sues his St. Clair County, Ill., employer, claiming an improperly-installed makeshift wooden handrail, as well as flour and/or other slippery substances on the treads of the steps, caused him to sustain various injuries in a fall. By Ann Knef, Madison – St. Clair Record
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Revised Workers’ Comp Proposal Tops Agenda in Delaware
A revised proposal to reform Delaware’s workers’ compensation system is a high priority as the state’s legislative session begins, but lawmakers won’t say how the revised legislation differs from an original proposal that failed to win consensus among labor, business, medical and legal communities. By Randall Chase, AP via Daily Times (Salisbury, Md.)
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Tragedies Spark Oregon Lawmaker’s Call for State Fund
In the wake of several well-publicized deaths of lost hikers and travelers in the Oregon wilderness, Oregon state Rep. John Lim introduces legislation that would create a state fund to help pay liability insurance and workers’ compensation to encourage volunteer rescuers. By Jeff Barnard, AP via KGW-TV (Portland)
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