Quote of the day
"It troubles me that there's no medical coverage [for former NFL players]. You're either going to cover it under workers' comp and just accept it ... or have policies for players, so they're legitimately covered. It's probably a very expensive proposition, but my God, look at the money out there."
Paul Benjamin, retired San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback
What Price Glory? The 1981 49ers Benefits Battle
The NFL Players Association has improved long-term benefits for its members in the past 25 years, but that’s not much help to some former players. One backup quarterback for the title-winning 1981 San Francisco 49ers, who says the team has always fought its liability, has had an open workers’ compensation file for nearly 20 years. By Ron Kroichick, San Francisco Chronicle [With Podcast] Go to the Full Story…
Boston-Area Rep Says Law Would Help ‘Underground’ Workers
In Framingham, Mass, the city’s new state representative targets the underground economy: employers who pay workers cash or misclassify employees as contractors to avoid paying taxes and workers’ compensation premiums. What impact will that have on the area’s immigrant population? By Emilie Rutherford, MetroWest Daily News
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Missouri Comp Ruling Sets Troubling Precedent for Businesses
A 4-3 decision by the Missouri Supreme Court brought by an injured worker’s widow reverses the long-held assumption that workers’ compensation payments end when an injured employee dies of an unrelated cause. “This (decision) will apply to others – there’s no doubt about that,” says the St. Louis attorney who represented the plaintiff. By David A. Lieb, Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat
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Has the Lone Star State’s Reform Worked at All?
It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of Texas’ purportedly-overhauled workers’ compensation system. According to injured worker Gregory Klaes of Dallas, “If it has improved, can someone please show me how in any manner, way, shape or form it’s improved and how it could be any worse? I would like to know how it could be worse.” By Brett Shipp, WFAA-TV (Dallas – Fort Worth)
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Self-Insured Texas County Cuts Comp Costs by Millions
Hidalgo County, Texas has reduced workers’ compensation costs by millions of dollars since the entity opted to self-insure itself in 2003. Costs per claim have fallen dramatically; “The county is now in control,” says one official with the county’s Workers’ Compensation Division of the Office of Budget and Management. By Cari Hammerstrom, McAllen Monitor
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Companies Stiff Iraq, Afghanistan Vets
U.S. companies employing civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Halliburton, are refusing to settle workers’ compensation and medical benefit claims for hundreds of wide-ranging physical and mental war zone injuries, according to the Boston Globe. The companies even fought claims where their own doctors agreed that a worker had been injured. By Farah Stockman, Boston Globe
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Businesses Wary of Costs to Cover Uninsured
Businesses, especially smaller ones, are wary of a crop of new state health care proposals to reduce the number of uninsured, fearing the programs will drive up their expenses without solving the problem, and some health insurers already are balking. California’s proposal calls for businesses with 10 or more employees to offer insurance to workers or pay 4 percent of their payroll into a state fund. By AP via Boston Herald
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